The latest report Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report is out and in summary, Google took a large bite at Apple and threw it to Windows but the latter proved to be strong and didn't break.
The latest figures released by the International Data Corporation revealed that 81 percent of smartphone shipments during the third quarter of 2013 are on the Android platform while Windows share grew by 156 percent year in and year out. Apple, meanwhile, dropped its shipment by almost two percent with the iOS posting a 12.9 percent market share.
Of the 261.1 million smartphones that shipped out during the quarter, there were 211.6 million smartphones running on Android. Steady on second spot is Apple's iOS with 33.8 million units delivered to consumers. The Windows Phone delivery jumped from 3.7 million units in the same period last year to 9.5 million units for this year. Blackberry lags at the bottom of the chart with a 1.7 percent share of the Q3 market dropping by -41.6 percent compared to 2012.
The overall shipment of smartphones jumped by 39.9 percent comparing year-over-year deliveries. Q3 2012 shipment volume was pegged at 186.7 million units.
"Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price. Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward," said research manager Ramon Llamas of the mobile phone team of IDC in a press statement.
Looking at Android handset manufacturers, Samsung dominated the market accounting for almost 40% of all shipments during the quarter. No other vendors came close to the figures posted by the makers of the Galaxy line of smartphones as most posted a single digit share while the rest even had a share lower than one percent.
Apple's shipment volumes actually went up from 26.9 million units to 33.8 million handsets but the figures might be reflective of the slow demand for the product prior to the launch of the latest iOS 7 units.
The huge gain of Windows Phone is primarily attributed to the performance of Nokia that was responsible for 93.2 percent of Windows Phone deliveries.
The report also put on spotlight the continued downward trend of smartphone prices as the market calls for more affordable units. The average selling price of smartphones for the third quarter was pegged at $317 or about 12.5 percent lower compared to last year's Q3 average. The phablets also showed the same trend with the average Q3 price posted at $443 down from $573 last year.
