ABI Research reports that Android “once again dominated the Q1 2014 shipment numbers for smartphone advanced operating systems.”
And when they say “dominated,” they’re not kidding. In fact, Android grabbed an 80% market share (including AOSP) of just under 300 million smartphones shipped in Q1 2014.
“Interestingly, basic mobile phones lost 5% market share and Android picked up almost all of these users, suggesting Android is set to gain almost all of the billions of mobile subscribers still upgrading to smartphones. Certainly, Android looks set to completely dominate the high growth developing markets and increase its market share still further,” said Nick Spencer, senior practice director of mobile devices at ABI.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone (essentially Nokia/Microsoft) continued its steady progress with 16% sequential growth and an increase of 1% in market share, the date also shows.
“Microsoft Windows Phone is currently the only viable third ecosystem. BlackBerry has faded on all fronts (BlackBerry 10 and OS) and while Firefox remains a potential low-cost challenger, it has yet to make any significant impact,” added Spencer.
Although Apple’s iOS also achieved steady progress with 17% year-on-year growth, the growth is undoubtedly flattening and the iPhone 5c has done little to boost sales volumes.
