Samsung hardware and the Android mobile operating system dominated the first quarter of 2013, according to new data released Tuesday by research firm Gartner. The Korean electronics giant shipped 64.7 million smartphones during the quarter for 30.8 percent of worldwide market share while Google’s Android was found on 156 million devices shipped during the quarter, for a commanding 74.4 percent market share.
Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner, explained the results:
There are two clear leaders in the OS market and Android’s dominance in the OS market is unshakable. With new OSs coming to market such as Tizen, Firefox and Jolla we expect some market share to be eroded but not enough to question Android’s volume leadership.
| Worldwide Smartphone Sales (Thousands of Units) Source: Gartner |
Q1 2013 | Q1 2013 Market Share | Q1 2012 | Q1 2012 Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 156,186.0 | 74.4% | 83,684.4 | 56.9% |
| iOS | 38,331.8 | 18.2% | 33,120.5 | 22.5% |
| BlackBerry | 6,218.6 | 3.0% | 9,939.3 | 6.8% |
| Windows Phone | 5,989.2 | 2.9% | 2,722.5 | 1.9% |
| Bada | 1,370.8 | 0.7% | 3,843.7 | 2.6% |
| Symbian | 1,349.4 | 0.6% | 12,466.9 | 8.5% |
| Others | 600.3 | 0.3% | 1,242.9 | 0.8% |
| Total | 210,046.1 | 100.0% | 147,020.2 | 100.0% |
Second-place Apple performed well relative to its shipments from a year ago, shipping 38 million smartphones on the quarter, an increase of 5 million year-over-year, but couldn’t keep up with Samsung and Android. The Cupertino company saw its market share fall from 22.5 percent during the first quarter of 2012 to 18.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
Apple’s market share is expected to fall again in the second quarter in the face of new product launches from competitors. The company is not likely to respond with new hardware until the third quarter and, even then, the update is anticipated to be a minor improvement to the existing iPhone 5 form factor.
Looking at other players, the once-dominant BlackBerry (formerly RIM) continued its fall despite attempts to revitalize the company with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. BlackBerry shipped 3.7 million fewer units than it did a year ago, and saw its market share fall from 6.8 to 3.0 percent.
The story was different for Microsoft. The Redmond company’s renewed push with Windows Phone-based devices saw an increase in shipments of 3.2 million units over the first quarter of 2012 and a market share increase from 1.9 to 2.9 percent.
Perhaps most dramatic of all was the continued fall of Nokia’s Symbian. As the company has shifted to Windows Phone devices and struggled overall, the performance of its in-house OS plummeted, shipping only 1.3 million units worldwide during the quarter, down from 12.4 million a year ago.
The market overall grew slightly, with vendors selling 425.8 million mobile phones during the quarter, an increase of about 2.9 million year-over-year. Of those mobile phones, 210 million were smartphones, up from 147 million a year ago. The Asia/Pacific region accounted for the growth of smartphones and the mobile phone market overall, with 53.1 percent growth and 25.7 percent of worldwide sales.
Although new products are expected in the coming quarters, based both on existing platforms (Windows Phone) and new platforms (Firefox OS), it is unlikely that the newcomers will disrupt Android’s growing lead.
Featured image via Paramount Pictures, Star Trek: Generations (1994).
