iOS vs Android Part 1: Android rules the world, sells twice as many devices

One of the biggest sources of Internet arguments is the battle between iOS and Android. Writer Harry McCracken of Time Tech has compiled all the sales figures into one place to give us a look at how both operating systems fare when compared against each other. Because of the enormity of the reports, we’ve split the compilation into two. This one takes a look at market share and device sales.

For the US, first we have Kantar Worldpanel Comtech’s sales figures. The figures showed Android phones being ahead of iPhones by a margin of 51.2 percent to 43.5 percent. However, the company has said that since the numbers were posted, iOS has jumped back into the first place.

Next is Comscore’s MobiLens study. It measure the smartphone platforms used by everyone in the US who is over the age of 13. This includes every smartphone in the country – not just the ones that were bought recently. It shows similar numbers to Kantar’s: Android is in the lead with 52.3 percent, with iOS having 37.8 percent.

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Android takes the crown for market share

For the rest of the planet, we can look at IDC’s scores. According to IDC, Android devices are much more dominant than those running iOS. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Android had a 70.1 percent share as opposed to 21 percent by iOS and 8.9 percent by other operating systems.

For tablets, IDC’s scores for the year of 2012 show iOS in the lead with a market share of 53.8 percent as opposed to 42.7 percent for Android and 3.5 percent for others.

While iOS devices are only developed by Apple, there are many companies making devices running on Android. Once again, IDC shows us who wins here. Samsung ships the most amount of phones in the fourth quarter of last year with a share of 29 percent. Apple was a close second at 21.8 percent while other companies combined account for 49.2 percent.

The US scores tell a slightly different story. Apple sells the most units in the US with 34 percent of the share. Samsung is second with 32.3 percent and all other companies combined have 33.7 percent of the market share.

Going by this, Android seems to be the clear winner. Despite the fact that there’s some ambiguity regarding the numbers for the market share in the US, when it comes to the worldwide market share, Android seems to be leagues ahead of iOS.