In Q4 2012 Android And iOS Captured Record 92% Of Global Smartphone Market

According to the Strategy Analytics’ latest research measuring global smartphone OS shipments for the fourth quarter of 2012, Android and iOS together represented 92% of all shipments. Both operating systems were able to considerably increase their market shares over Q3, with global smartphone shipments over the year reaching a record 700.1 million units.

Apple’s iOS grew 29% year-over-year with 135.8 million iPhones sold during 2012. The company took 22% of the market in the fourth quarter, down from the 24% it captured in the year-ago quarter. Apple’s market share of the smartphone market for 2012 comes in at 19.4%, up slightly from the 19% the company held during 2011.

Android was able to achieve the largest gains capturing 70.1% of the global market in Q4 (up from 51.3% year over year). The Other category including such platforms as Bada, Windows, BlackBerry and Symbian decreased from 32.3% of the global market in 2011 to 12.2% in 2012. In Q4 2012 these platforms grabbed 7.9% of the market (down from 25.1% a year ago), so Android clearly increased its market share at the expense of the “other platforms” as Apple continues to slowly increase its market share as well.

As always, Strategy Analytics measures shipment estimates for Android devices in contrast to the hard sales numbers for Apple’s smartphones. Apple sold 135.8 million iPhones in 2012, while the analytics firm estimated that 479.0 million Android smartphones were shipped (not sold) during 2012.