Android market share spikes to more than 72 percent in third quarter, Gartner says
Smartphone and tablet buyers snapped up Android products five times more often than they chose Apple iOS devices during the third quarter, according to a new study from Gartner Research.
The 122 million Android devices sold in the quarter represent 72 percent of worldwide mobile sales. By comparison, just 115 million devices in total were sold during the same time period in 2011. It’s also a roughly 100 percent increase over Android’s year-on-year figures.
Despite an overall year-on-year decrease in total mobile sales, smartphones increased their share of the larger market to nearly 40 percent. In terms of smartphone manufacturers, Samsung and Apple remained the clear top two, together accounting for 46 percent of the market. Samsung in particular had a good quarter, selling 55 million smartphones to Apple’s 23.5 million.
Apple is likely to see a dramatic gain in the fourth quarter, however, as sales of new iPhones and iPads—released late in the third quarter - begin to take off ahead of the holidays. Gartner says Apple’s fourth quarter is traditionally its strongest.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/111412-android-264260.html
