Android Clearly Now The Dominant Mobile OS

There's increasingly less room for any other platform players in the smartphone world, according to the latest IDC Q2 market share figures, with Android well ahead even of the next biggest player, Apple's iOS.

Android now has a global market share of a mammoth 84.7%, with the number of units shipped up a third on last year while iOS has an 11.7%  share – down on last year, when Apple had a 13% slice of the pie.

Reflecting a still very buoyant market, Apple iOS shipments still grew to the tune of 12.7%.

Thus in total, Android and iOS have 96.4% of the market – almost the entire shebang – with the third place player, Windows Phone, on just 2.5%, actually down from last year's 3.4% - a disappointing result for 'Big Green's' efforts in this space.

BlackBerry is now on a vestigial 0.5%: the words "two horse race" spring to mind, despite the strides Windows Phone has made with version 8.1.

Samsung Top Android Dog

In total, the amount of smartphones shipped in the quarter was 301.3 million, up 25% year-on-year.

As for who is carving the most success out of Android's towering sales figures, that would be Samsung, which is responsible for 29.3% of all Android shipments. However, that's down considerably from the heights of 40% the company reached only two years back.

Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team, commented: "With many of its OEM partners focusing on the sub-$200 segments, Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets. During the second quarter, 58.6 per cent of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide cost less than $200 off contract, making them very attractive compared to other devices.

"With the recent introduction of Android One, in which Google offers reference designs below $100 to Android OEMs, the proportion of sub-$200 volumes will climb even higher."