Android Accounts for 75% of Smartphone Shipments in Q3

By Jane McEntegart
published

Google experiences massive growth in the smartphone market.

Android has come a long way in the four years since it launched. In face, IDC reports that the operating system shipped with three quarters of the smartphones sold in the last quarter. IDC reports that Android shipped 136 million units this past quarter, accounting for 75 percent of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12. This number represents year-over-year growth of 91.5 percent. According to IDC, it's nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.

"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Mobile Phones at IDC. "In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market."

Apple placed second for smartphone shipments. It shipped 26.9 million units, accounting for 14.9 percent of smartphone shipments. In the same quarter last year, Apple shipped 17.1 million phones, or 13.8 percent of overall smartphone shipments. This represents growth of 57.3 percent year-over-year. Both Blackberry and Symbian (third and fourth place, respectively) experienced negative year-over-year growth. The former 7.7 million units (4.3 percent of shipments) down from 11.8 million (9.5 percent) in the year ago quarter. Nokia's Symbian was on 4.1 million (2.3 percent), down from 18.1 million (14.6 percent). Microsoft, on the other hand, is doing alright. The company experienced year-over-year growth of 140 percent. For Q3 2011, the company shipped 1.5 million units, or 1.2 percent of smartphone shipments. This year, for the same quarter, the company shipped 2 percent, or 3.6 million units. These numbers obviously don't account for Windows Phone 8, which just launched earlier this week. IDC says it includes both Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile.

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback           

Jane McEntegart
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • catbus1
    Next headline: Android based phone owners account for 70% of dissatisfied smartphone users.

    Friends don't let friend Android.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    catbus1Next headline: Android based phone owners account for 70% of dissatisfied smartphone users.Friends don't let friend Android.
    no that 70% is iphone users not android
    Reply
  • neieus
    Next headline: Android based phone owners account for 70% of satisfied smartphone users.

    Friends don't let friend buy Isheep.

    Fixed...
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    iPhone users are mostly satisfied from my experience. Android much less so. Too much configurability leads to less satisfaction.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

    Ironic...

    Still, I have to say, I love my LG Motion 4G. Most satisfied I have been with a tech product, not called an SSD, in a long long time...
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    So, with 60% of the smartphones sold by the providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc) being iPhones, and 75% of the total smartphone shipments being Android, obviously, Android phones are the preferred phones of the free, while iPhones are the preferred phones of the herd.
    Reply
  • theclash150
    catbus1Next headline: Android based phone owners account for 70% of dissatisfied smartphone users.Friends don't let friend Android.
    I wasn't 100% satisfied with my Galaxy SIII with the stock TouchWiz but I was able to flash CyanogenMod on it and get it the way I want it. That's the beauty of Android, it can really be YOUR phone. As a former iPhone 4 owner, I cannot express how awesome the flexibility of Android is.
    Reply
  • anhxeom
    "In FACE, IDC reports that the operating system shipped with three quarters of the smartphones sold in the last quarter. "

    Who's face?
    Reply
  • kartu
    jacobdrjiPhone users are mostly satisfied from my experience. Android much less so. Too much configurability leads to less satisfaction...North Koreans are very satisfied with their government.
    Too much democracy leads to less satisfaction....
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    theclash150I wasn't 100% satisfied with my Galaxy SIII with the stock TouchWiz but I was able to flash CyanogenMod on it and get it the way I want it. That's the beauty of Android, it can really be YOUR phone. As a former iPhone 4 owner, I cannot express how awesome the flexibility of Android is.I had a similar experience with a Sansa Clip Zip media player. It couldn't play Ogg files or even the included sample music without stuttering. I replaced the firmware with Rockbox and now it plays Ogg files perfectly (and Minesweeper. and Doom).
    http://www.rockbox.org
    Reply
  • Solandri
    jacobdrjiPhone users are mostly satisfied from my experience. Android much less so. Too much configurability leads to less satisfaction.
    http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.htmlI've seen that TED talk. I agree with what he says, but disagree with his suggested solutions. The solution isn't to deprive customers of choice and trap them in a gilded cage with fewer options.

    The solution is to make it easier for people to make choices. Like how Newegg's product search lets you take the thousands of laptops they carry, and quickly narrow it down to the few which are quad core, 15"-15.6", with SSD, and cost $500-$750.

    I have a Canon DSLR camera. I use the manual, aperture priority, and shutter priority modes almost exclusively. But when I hand the camera off to someone who doesn't know squat about photography and just wants to take pictures, I put it into "green mode" where the camera does almost everything automatically and acts more like a point and shoot. This is what Android needs - a "green mode" which is super-simplified, but retaining the ability to turn it off and set certain or all features manually if you wish.

    That's how you improve customer satisfaction through simplification of choice, not by forcing everyone to use "green mode" like the iPhone does. Part of the reason the iPhone's satisfaction ratings are so high is because Android exists, and tweak-a-holics dissatisfied with the iPhone's limitations have abandoned it to use something else.
    Reply