A new research conducted by Strategy Analytics reveals that Android is the absolute leader of the mobile market at the moment with a market share of 88 percent, while iOS is rapidly losing ground and falling to no less than 12 percent.
These figures concern the third quarter of this year, when a total of 375 million phones have been sold, up 6 percent year-over-year. No less than 328.6 million were Android phones, while 45.5 million were iPhones, the research shows.
With Android at 88 percent and iOS at 12 percent, many might be wondering where exactly is Windows Phone and BlackBerry, two of the platforms that are still being used by a decreasing number of customers.
According to the research, Windows Phone “has all but disappeared” and Strategy Analytics says it all happened because of the “strategic shifts,” which means that Microsoft’s changes in its mobile strategy are at fault for this decline.
The Surface Phone won’t save Windows 10 Mobile
Unfortunately, there is no way to stop this decline of Windows Phone on the long term and even though it’s believed that Microsoft is preparing a truly innovative Surface Phone running Windows 10 Mobile, few people think that everything can change overnight. Critical problems such as the lack of apps cannot be addressed with new product releases, and more users are likely to migrate towards rival platforms in the meantime.
And Strategy Analytics says Android is the big winner here, as the majority of users coming from other platforms don’t necessarily pick iOS, as some do not agree with the lack of customization and restrictions that Apple has implemented into its devices.
“Android’s gain came at the expense of every major rival platform. Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent share worldwide in Q3 2016, due to a lackluster performance in China and Africa. BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone have all but disappeared due to strategic shifts, while Tizen and other emerging platforms softened as a result of limited product portfolios and modest developer support,” Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, explained.
The research claims that despite the total domination of the mobile market, Android still has a few problems to deal with, including Google attacking its own hardware partners with devices such as the Pixel lineup.
