The Android platform continues to top the charts with a 75 percent share of smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2012.
Google's Android mobile operating system has seen tremendous growth over the years, and is currently the world's No. 1 mobile platform, although it is only four years old.
According to market research firm IDC, its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker found that the Android platform powered three out of every four smartphones shipped in the world market.
The 136 million Android phones shipped in the third quarter market a whopping 91.5 percent year-over-year increase in unit shipments compared to the same period the previous year, when Google's mobile operating system (OS) had 71 million shipped units and held a 57.5 percent market share.
"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008. In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas according to the press release. Llamas also noted that "In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market."
IDC's charts found two other big gainers: Apple and Microsoft. Apple's iOS boosted its share of new shipments by 57.3 percent, with the platform powering 26.9 million new units shipped in the third quarter. This figure translates into a 14.9 percent share of the market, up from 17.1 million iPhones shipped in the same period in 2011.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's Windows Phone (WP) platform actually showed the most impressive share growth according to IDC, although the volume of WP phones shipped in the third quarter lags far behind those shipped by giants Google and Apple.
Microsoft shipped 3.6 million Windows Phone handsets in the third quarter, less than the 7.7 million BlackBerry units RIM shipped and the 4.1 million Symbian devices Nokia shipped. On the other hand, Microsoft only had its WP platform on 1.5 million phones shipped during the same period last year, which means that its current 2.0 percent market share reflects a 140 percent growth in unit shipments year-over-year.
"Windows Phone has yet to make a significant dent into Android's and iOS's collective market share," said IDC, noting at the same time that Microsoft's smartphone fortunes "could change in [the fourth quarter] when multiple Windows Phone 8 smartphones will reach the market."
However, when it comes to the BlackBerry and Symbian platforms, IDC's assessment in the third quarter is less promising. The platforms managed to seize the third and fourth spots in the market, but BlackBerry phone shipments declined 34.7 percent from the same period in 2011 while Symbian saw a 77.3 percent drop.
Off-brand Linux-based phones still make up for a small portion of the smartphone market, but saw a 31.7 percent decline in unit shipments from last year's third quarter. Meanwhile, all other smartphone platforms tracked by the research firm virtually disappeared in the third quarter, going from roughly 100,000 unit shipments in 2011 to essentially zero.
"The share decline of smartphone operating systems not named iOS since Android's introduction isn't a coincidence. The smartphone operating system is not an isolated product, it's a crucial part of a larger technology ecosystem. Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio," said Kevin Restivo, senior analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins in the mobile OS, do not. This factor and others have led to loss of share for competitors with few exceptions."
