Analytics firm Gartner recently published the smartphone numbers for Q1 of 2013. The numbers look at a lot of different things, but one very interesting and impressive statistic stands out from the others. According to the numbers, almost 75% of all smartphones sold in Q1 of 2013 use the Android operating system.
Another, perhaps unsurprising statistic, is that Samsung sold more Android-powered smartphones than any other manufacturer. Gartner says that Android’s nearly 75% market share for the smartphone realm is nearly 20% higher than its percentage of the market only a year ago. If you’re wondering, that 75% share equates to about 156 million Android devices sold during the quarter.
Overall sales for smartphones were 210 million units, representing an increase of 63 million units compared to the same quarter last year. Overall mobile phone sales for the quarter were 425 million meaning smartphones accounted for almost half of all mobile phones sold. Of all smartphone manufacturers, Samsung seems to be doing the best.
Samsung doesn’t offer up official sales statistics, but Gartner estimates that Samsung sold 31% of all smartphones during the quarter. Gartner also estimates that Apple was in the number two spot with 18% of all smartphones sold. Those numbers show that Android is growing rapidly as iOS continues to decline.
During the same quarter of 2012, Samsung and Apple were only 5% apart in the first and second spots for the smartphone realm. There is a chance that those numbers could swing back in Apple’s favor with the launch of the next generation iPhone. The iPhone 5 has been criticized as being a marginal upgrade and Gartner thinks that some iPhone users may be waiting for the next generation device before they upgrade.
SOURCE: TechCrunch
