“With a total base of 211.6 million smartphone units shipped during the quarter, Android accounted for 81.0% of all smartphone shipments, marking the first time that Android topped 80% in its short history,” IDC noted in a press release.
IDC also writes that despite the saturation in many high-profile smartphone markets, the overall smartphone space grew almost 40 percent year-on-year basis in Q3.
In addition, phablets (smartphones with over 5-inch of display size) remain a key component of the smartphone market and almost all Android vendors currently have one or more phablets in their portfolio.
“Almost all successful Android vendors have added one or more 5-7-inch phablets to their product portfolios,” said Ryan Reith, Program Director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “In 3Q13, phablet shipments accounted for 21% of the smartphone market, up from just 3% a year ago. We believe the absence of a large-screen device may have contributed to Apple’s inability to grow share in the third quarter.”
Highlights:
- Android pushed past 80% market share for the first time in 3Q13
- Samsung accounted for 39.9% of all Android shipments for the quarter
- Rest of the vendors either saw single-digit market share or, in the case of the majority of vendors, market share of less than 1%
