14 DAY TRIAL // New mobile OS market share statistics provided by analyst firm Gartner reveal that Android keeps improving is figures worldwide while Apple’s iOS loses important points every single month.
At this point, Android is the top mobile platform around the world with a share of 84.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, up from 78.8 percent in the same quarter of the previous year, while Apple’s iOS dropped from 17.9 percent to 14.7 percent.
The numbers of sold units pretty much speak for itself. There were 293 million Android units shipped during the quarter while iOS is far behind with only 51 million, down from 60 million the same quarter in 2015.
As far as manufacturers are concerned, Samsung is the leading company with 81 million sold phones while Apple is second with its 51 million.
Samsung Galaxy S7, the actual iPhone killer
The 30 million sold units difference is huge in the current competitive market, and the forecast isn’t really optimistic for Apple, given the fact that a new product isn’t expected until September (with sales to begin in late September or early October). So the next quarter is likely to increase the gap between the two, especially because sales of the Galaxy S7 are on the rise.
And speaking of the Galaxy S7, Gartner claims it is this model that drives Samsung’s and Android’s sales forward.
“Samsung's Galaxy S7 series phones and renewed portfolio positioned it as a strong competitor in the smartphone market, and more so in the emerging markets where it has been facing fierce competition from local manufacturers,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.
In the short term, Apple is also likely to experience strong competition from other Android device manufacturers too, as both Huawei and Oppo are growing bigger.
Huawei, whose sales took off partially thanks to the Nexus 6P manufactured for Google, has increased its share from 5.4 percent to 8.3 percent, improving sales from 18 million to no less than 28.8 million units. Oppo has also boosted its share from 2.0 percent to 4.6 percent, with sales jumping from 6.5 million to 16 million during the quarter.
Chances of an iPhone overhaul
The only thing that could save the decline of the iPhone is not the iPhone SE, but a dramatic overhaul of the device, which unfortunately is less likely to land this year.
Leaks have pointed to a rather minor overhaul of the iPhone for the next generation, with slight design changes and the typical processor upgrade. But as far as features are concerned, there are voices claiming that a dual camera system could indeed arrive, but only on the bigger Plus model, with some sources suggesting that a third version called either Pro or Plus Premium was also considered.
But with the iPhone 7 bringing only few new things to the table, it’s hard to believe that Apple can actually slow down Samsung’s growth. Not with the Galaxy Note 6 launching in the summer.
