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Nearly 9 Out of 10 Smartphones Shipped Run On Android (cnet.com) 220

Posted by BeauHD from the market-domination dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Google's Android operating system was the big winner in a big time for worldwide phone shipments, market researcher Strategy Analytics reported Wednesday. Android captured 88 percent of all smartphone shipped in the third quarter of 2016, a period that also marks the fastest growth rate in a year. "Android's gain came at the expense of every major rival platform," Strategy Analytics' Linda Sui said in a press release. "Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent [market]share," primarily because of "lackluster" sales in China and Africa, she said. And don't bother looking for BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows phones in the mix. They "all but disappeared" in the period between July 1 and the end of September. While Android's leading position looks "unassailable," it does face challenges in a market filled with phones made by hundreds manufacturers, few of which turn a profit. That's not helped by Google's new Pixel phone, which competes against the companies that made it popular in the first place, Strategy Analytics said. About 375 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2016, up 6 percent from 354.2 million units in the same period last year. Shipments of Android-based phones rose 10.3 percent, while Apple's iPhones fell 5.2 percent.
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Nearly 9 Out of 10 Smartphones Shipped Run On Android More

Nearly 9 Out of 10 Smartphones Shipped Run On Android

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  • What's shipping? (Score:3)

    by 0100010001010011 ( 652467 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:00PM (#53203011)

    For 'brand new' shipping today devices what versions of Android are going out?

  • And nearly 10 of 10 android phones are on old ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by postmortem ( 906676 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:08PM (#53203041) Journal

    version today
    https://developer.android.com/... [android.com]

    • Re:And nearly 10 of 10 android phones are on old . (Score:4, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @07:38AM (#53204823) Homepage Journal

      If only it mattered, you would have a point.

      Seriously, my two year old OnePlus One is on Marshmallow, a version behind the latest Nougat, or two if you want to count the recent 7.1 update. It doesn't matter, I still get security updates, it still runs every app I throw at it. There are a few new features in Nougat but actually a lot of the important stuff is part of the Google Launcher so runs on my phone anyway.

      The phone is better than the day I bought it, secure and I'd rather it remains that way instead of getting updates that eventually cripple it or change functionality in annoying ways. If/when Nougat is available I'll evaluate it, but I'm not obsessed with being on the latest version and usually wait a month before installing updates for safety anyway.

  • Some Observations (Score:5, Interesting)

    by youngone ( 975102 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:14PM (#53203061)
    I have a work iPhone 6 and a personal Samsung Galaxy S4. The Samsung is 3 years old and works fine. If I was to sell it second hand I might get $50 for it. The iPhone would sell for at least $500 (local dollars, not US).

    The old Samsung does everything the iPhone does. I noticed the Apple marketing for the iPhone 7 recently, and the things the iPhone 7 camera can do I have been able to do on my Samsung for the last three years. (Not that I do, they're mostly gimmicks).

    All of my wife's friends were Apple users until the last 12 months or so, now my wife is the last iPhone user in her group of friends. That's hardly a scientific poll or anything, but white, relatively wealthy middle class women used to be the core iPhone buyer.

    Just my two cents worth really, make of it what you will.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Can you grill a cheese sandwich with an iPhone ?, you know you can with a Samsung and STILL have enough juice to iron your shirt.

    • I see a lot of people switch to Android because of the wider selection of phones and the mostly lower prices. But I see a lot of former iPhone users swiching back to Apple after having tried Android for a bit. If you can afford it and you're not a power user, the iPhone is a pretty good choice, I vastly prefer it over my Android (work) phone. My mother-in-law, a complete computer illiterate who got an Android phone as her first smart phone, is now switching to iPhone after having tried my old one for a b
      • I think that's largely correct. My wife uses an iPhone because it's easy, and she is also a computer illiterate.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Apple made the smart move when they jumped to selling privacy and unlike M$ not selling your privacy to others but selling your privacy to you. Apple are bound to push that harder and harder and one think likely to be banned at Apple, targeted advertisement because nothing screams absence of privacy, we own your life, like individually targeted advertisements. So basically Apple will hold it's own in the market, basically at around 10% and that is still millions of people, so plenty market there for Apple.

      • I think there's a heavy pull back to your first smartphone platform. I've always used Android and I find iPhones very hard work. And people often do a (by definition) high-end iPhone -> mid-range / budget Android and then wonder about why it doesn't feel as good...

        I think the lock-in to whatever Apple's decisions are is one of the most risky things about iPhone - we're seeing it now with the new MacBook 'Pro' that nobody likes. If you want a Mac you're stuck with whatever they release. Same with iPhone.

        • It's very risky, as people seem to like Apple's "courageous" choices less and less (myself included). In the old days, it was said that Apple did not design for a market or a target demographic or a focus group, they designed for Steve Jobs; a clever guy with good taste. Now that he's gone, Apple are struggling to keep up that important image. I can well imagine what goes through the heads of their design guys when Cook announces that they "need to make bold decisions for the next model iPhone." Somethi

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Bongo ( 13261 )

            Don't be daft, of course they won't kill the touch screen. They'll kill the ability to make phone calls.

            Phone calls! That's a 140 year old tech! Time we ditched it!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bongo ( 13261 )

        A friend started on iPhone all enthusiastic with the 3G. But then nothing new or exciting came from Apple so he switched to Android. He was about to get a Samsung next but that proved a bit too exciting so he's back to iPhones now.

    • I have 1 phone of each platform - iOS, Android and Windows Phone. An iPhone 7 (just upgraded from 5s, which I passed on to my niece), a Moto X and a Lumia 550.

      I use the iPhone for only two things - WhatsApp and FaceTime, as well as talking to family. The Moto X I use as a work phone, and have all the apps needed for work. The Lumia I use as a travel phone abroad.

      The iPhone is probably the last I'll use, unless it breaks down: it has a whopping 128GB of storage, which should last me I think 10 years

      • The iPhone is probably the last I'll use, unless it breaks down: it has a whopping 128GB of storage, which should last me I think 10 years.

        The storage? Maybe.

        The battery? You really think it will hold more than ten seconds of charge six years from now? Good luck getting it changed.

  • well no joke (Score:5, Informative)

    by whoozwah ( 4223029 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:24PM (#53203103)
    1 out of the multitude smartphone manufacturers ships with iOS.

  • Awesome... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by r_naked ( 150044 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:27PM (#53203115) Homepage

    So we ended up with the MS of the mobile world. Don't get me wrong, I use an Android phone, and I think things are OK right now, but if Google decided to become a super dick -- the battle starts all over again.

    I think my next phone will run Ubuntu.

  • No need to round before finding a nice ratio approximation, it adds error needlessly.

  • note 7 joke (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mishotaki ( 957104 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @08:58PM (#53203253)
    off course, you ship your note 7 to the customer and back.... twice in the same year, so every note was counted 4 times, it kinda helps...

  • Meanwhile behind the Apple RDF... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jason1729 ( 561790 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @09:01PM (#53203265)
    Over in the Apple forum they're saying iOS and Android are both doing well with a combined 99% market share.

  • Selling at a loss (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @10:26PM (#53203599)

    Samsung was the only Android handheld manufacturer making any actual profit (not a loss or breaking even), and the billions upon billions of dollars of costs for the Note 7 issues have wiped out years worth of profit for the things. That means that at this point, Apple is the only company actually making any significant profit in the industry.

    So, is it really so bad to only have 12% of the market when you're the only ones making any money?

    • is it really so bad to only have 12% of the market when you're the only ones making any money?

      In the short-term it is just fine. In the longer term, not so much. I am reminded of the 90's when the Mac's 9% marketshare was about the same as Gateway, but they made 5 times as much profit. That didn't last long and after a few years Apple had to install Microsoft's godawful browser at the factory in exchange for a stock-for-cash infusion. The Mac never saved us from MS hegemony; Linux servers and web-app

    • Samsung was the only Android handheld manufacturer making any actual profit (not a loss or breaking even), and the billions upon billions of dollars of costs for the Note 7 issues have wiped out years worth of profit for the things. That means that at this point, Apple is the only company actually making any significant profit in the industry.

      So, is it really so bad to only have 12% of the market when you're the only ones making any money?

      Hmm. I imagine Google is making $$$ hand over fist off advertising revenue, with such a huge install base. Handset manufacturers must be choosing to deploy at a loss if they're losing money on this deal. And who's fault is that? Not Google or Android.

    • Well, if your share of the market drops below a certain point (technically known as the Blackberry point) then you won't get the new apps developed for your platform. And then you die. Slowly at first, then all of a sudden.

      Of course rich people has Apple so it cannot die, and bla, bla. Well, rich people has money to change their phone in seconds if the NewHipApp isn't available for iOS. It's not like they are married to their iPhones, or rather it is like they are married to them, seeing how easily everybod

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      People have been saying that for 6+ years now, yet somehow all these other loss-making manufacturers are still in business and still releasing new models.

      LG makes money, HTC makes money, OnePlus makes money, Xaomi makes money, Motorola makes money, Huwawei makes money... The only people really struggling are Microsoft, Nokia and Blackberry, the ones who don't embrace Android.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Guspaz ( 556486 )

        Except they're not. LG's mobile division posted a $389.4M loss last quarter (and another loss the quarter before), HTC has posted a loss every quarter for years ($64M last quarter), OnePlus hasn't published any financial info since 2014 and so I would suspect is taking a loss, Xiaomi's sales are in freefall causing the company to drop 92% in value, and Motorola Mobility is now owned by Lenovo after bouncing around from owner to owner and is still losing money.

        Of all the companies you mentioned, only Huawei

    • The mainstream press is enamored with Apple and has always cast the profit picture as Apple being normal, everyone else performing poorly. That's actually backwards. The average profit margin in the smartphone industry is not far off the average for consumer electronics [techpinions.com] (about 3%-7%). Everyone making smartphones is operating under the same economics as everyone making routers, or DVD players, or printers, or laptops. But you hardly see those industries chastised by the press for not making enough profit

  • There are a grand total of 10 smart phones that can run the latest iOS, or one previous version.

    On the Android side, LG, Samsung, Huawei, HTC and Motorola each have as many compatible devices or more. Significantly more in some cases.

    I can't find a comprehensive list of all the smart phones that are android compatible (mostly because the market is so fragmented on versions) but it seems very likely that Android has 10x as many platforms as iOS, if not more... so it seems reasonable that they'd have 10x the

  • Still making a killing on Android patents [businessinsider.com] from direct competitors without having to lift a finger, must be nice.

  • Imagine what would have happened if it was the iPhone 7 battery the one exploding here and there. The hit that iOS would have taken would have been brutal. However, while Samsung suffers, Android doesn't even register the Note 7 debacle. Samsung could disappear tomorrow and other companies would take its sales in a blink. Evolution at work. That's because Android is a platform, not a company. In the end, platforms, specially if they are somewhat open, always trump companies.

    Some day Apple will make a bad mi

  • Makes sense. I'm an android users, have been since 2010. iPhone makes ONE phone, per year. Android(s) make 5,304,504 phones per year from various manufacturers.
  • ... receive regular Android updates from their OEMs?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • "And don't bother looking for BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows phones in the mix."

    Lol, there's a Windows phone?? I'm pretty sure that's just an urban myth.

    • "And don't bother looking for BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows phones in the mix."

      Lol, there's a Windows phone?? I'm pretty sure that's just an urban myth.

      Since I'd read and heard they existed, I have yet to see one.... for sale or in someone's hands.

  • I'm NOT an iPhone fan; I prefer Android.

    Having said that, I find it odd to read things like this, when my daily work position involves walking around buildings of employees to work on workstation and server issues (that's just the start of it, but it gets the point across).

    When I traverse the areas of one of the buildings and see peoples' phones, I sort of come to a logically obvious conclusion. There are 4 employees with "current-ish" iPhones. There are 6 with old iPhones (two of the six have cracked dis

    • Damnit. "The 3 new iPhone users, Management, and ordered to have them by the owner (owner is management)" = "The 4 new iPhone users, Management, and ordered to have them by the owner (owner is management)". Mistype while mentally tallying.

  • In spite of having a SGS 6 and having used S2, Note 2, Iphone 6s+, I bought a new HP Elite X3 Windows Mobile device.

    I'll have to check myself into the hospital.

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