The latest smartphone market share figures from Gartner show that Android-based devices, and in particular handsets from Samsung, are growing in popularity globally.
Gartner’s second quarter 2012 market share data showed that Samsung shipped 30% more smartphones in the quarter than the same period in 2011, extending its lead over Nokia and Apple. It is now the biggest smartphone manufacturer, with 21.6% of the global smartphone market.
According to Gartner, Q2 growth was driven by record sales of Galaxy and other smartphones, which now account for 50.4% of all Samsung mobile devices, or 45.6 million units.
Demand for the new Galaxy S3 was particularly strong, exceeding Samsung's own expectations, with a reported 10 million units reached in the two months after its release. The Galaxy S3 was the best-selling Android product in the quarter, and sales could have been higher but for product shortages, said Gartner.
The Gartner market share data follows research by Juniper Research which showed that Samsung overtook Apple in the first quarter of 2012.
Computer Weekly comment
The results put into perspective consumerisation of IT and the trend for people to bring their own devices to work. Supporting a single make of smartphone is no longer sufficient since staff will buy whatever is fashionable. So IT directors should ensure bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies support multiple devices. The same is true when working on apps development for marketing campaigns.
"In the race to be top smartphone manufacturer in 2012, Samsung has consistently increased its lead over Apple, and its open OS market share increased to one-and-a-half times that of Apple in the second quarter of 2012," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Nokia’s market share continued to decline, although it is still the second biggest smartphone maker with 19.9% market share.
Apple had a tough quarter. Consumer demand for the Apple iPhone weakened as sales fell 12.6% from the first quarter of 2012.
In terms of operating system (OS), Google's Android has a 64.1% market share, while Apple's iOS is at 18.8%. Nokia's Symbian OS has 5.9% market share and Research in Motion has 5.2%.
In its Predicts 2012: Application Development report, Gartner predicted that through 2014, fewer than 15% of enterprises will develop employee-facing native mobile applications on Apple iOS or Android. However, by 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4:1.
Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q12 (Thousands of Units)
