Apple and Android continue to chew the smartphone industry.Both platforms captured a record 92 percent of worldwide shipments of smartphones in the last quarter of 2012, according to data released today by Strategy Analytics.
Android took the lead with 152.1 million shipments last quarter, almost double the 80, 6 million delivered in 2011 to the fourth quarter, Strategy Analytics estimates. The market share of Google's mobile OS has jumped 70 percent, from 51 percent in the past year, as sellers Android shipped almost half a billion smartphones for 2012 in whole.
"Android is clearly the leader in the smartphone industry volume at the moment," Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston said in a statement. "Android Challenge for 2013 will be to defend his leadership against not only Apple, but also against emerging wave of hungry challengers that includes Microsoft, Blackberry, Firefox and Tizen."
And Apple? The manufacturer shipped 47.8 million smartphones iPhone last quarter, entering a market share of 22 percent, slightly less than 24 percent in the quarter.Overall a year ago, the industry shipped 217 million smartphones last quarter, an increase of 38 per cent of one million 157 shipped in the prior year quarter. For the year, shipments totaled a record 700 million, up from 490.5 million in 2011.
Shipment growth has actually declined 43 percent this year from 64 percent the previous year that the property has saturated smartphone developed regions like North America and Western Europe.
But Apple and Android easy to maintain their stranglehold on the market.
"The smart phone industry around the world has indeed become a duopoly that consumer demand has polarized around models Android mass-market and premium models of Apple," Strategy Analytics analyst Scott Bicheno said in a statement .
