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Android and iOS Now Control Over 80% of Smartphone Sales in U.S.

Tuesday December 13, 2011 6:37 am PST by Eric Slivka
Market research firm NPD today issued a press release discussing some of the trends in U.S. smartphone sales in 2011 compared to previous years, noting the strong growth in Android and iOS that has led the two platforms to now represent a commanding 80% of the market between them.
“The competitive landscape for smartphones, which has been reshaped by Apple and Google, has ultimately forced every major handset provider through a major transition,” said Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group. “For many of them, 2012 will be a critical year in assessing how effective their responses have been.”
The dramatic shift in the smartphone platform landscape is illustrated in a comparison chart (via BGR) showing how market shares have changed each year since 2006.


Back in 2006 before the launch of the iPhone, Research in Motion and Windows Mobile were neck-and-neck atop the smartphone market, with each taking 37% of sales. Palm held down third place with 17% of the market. Five years later, each of those platforms (or their successors) have seen their shares shrink dramatically as iOS and Android have grown substantially.

The past year has seen a continuation of the longer-term trend, with Android's market-leading share growing from 42% of the market to 53% and iOS growing from 21% to 29%. Third-place Research in Motion has experienced a remarkable collapse from its position atop the market just two years ago, falling from 44% in 2009 to 25% in 2010 and dropping again to just 10% so far in 2011.
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Avatar
Stella
19 months ago

owned blackberry, now just android to destroy


Be careful what you wish for - a one horse race isn't good for anyone. A one race horse tends to get slow and lazy.
Rating: 16 Positives
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KnightWRX
19 months ago

I knew RIM was in trouble, but this, combined with their other difficulties this year, makes me think they're not going to be viable for much longer.


Let's be careful. How much did the market grow ? iOS and Android have made the market much bigger than it was in 2006. Whereas before Smartphones were used in business, they are now being used by consumers in a big way.

This is the problem with percentage based charts. You don't get the whole picture.
Rating: 15 Positives
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KnightWRX
19 months ago

And then there were two!
It will be interesting to see how the two big guys duke it out.


Let's hope neither ever wins over the other. The last thing we need is a damn OS monopoly again.
Rating: 14 Positives
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slapppy
19 months ago
Looks like the Free OS given away by Google to every manufacturer on the planet is working to dominate marketshare. It's not winning marketshare because of its merits or superiority in technology. It's winning because its given away by Google to anyone for free.
Rating: 12 Positives
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Shrink
19 months ago

GO Android!

Android Rocks and Destroys all others!

IOS has flattened already.........

:cool:


I'm kind of new to online terminology, but doesn't the word "trolling" apply to this post? :rolleyes:
Rating: 11 Positives
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tinkafoo
19 months ago
Look out, everybody! Windows Phone 7 DOUBLED in market share from 2010!
Rating: 11 Positives
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TallGuy1970
19 months ago

iOS seems likely to start to plateau...


I've heard that for the last three years, but I have yet to see it happen. What makes you think this? Because Android is on multiple phones while iOS is only on one?
Rating: 10 Positives
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ipoppy
19 months ago
Another pointless argument about quantity vs quality. Its not shocking that Android taking lion share of the market. You got ONE iPhone with ONE iOS and you got ONE android with....

Aava Mobile
Acer beTouch E110
Acer beTouch E130
Acer beTouch E400
Acer Liquid A1
Acer Liquid E
Acer Liquid E Ferrari
Acer Liquid Stream
Alcatel OT-980
Altek Leo
Apanda A60
BoostMobile i1
Chinavision The Robot Superphone CVNC-M80
Commtiva Z71
Compulab Exceda
Dell Aero
Dell Benzine
Dell Blaze
Dell Flash
Dell OPhone Mini 3i
Dell Smoke
Dell Thunder
Dopod A6288
Era G1
Facebook ?
Fly-ying Cool F910
Foxda FC8901
Fujitsu ?
Garmin A10
Garmin Garminfone
Geeks’Phone One
General Mobile Brava
General Mobile Cosmos
General Mobile Cosmos 2
General Mobile DSTL1 Imaginary

General Mobile Touch Stone
Gigabyte G1305
Gigabyte GSmart
Gigabyte GSmart Codfish
Gigabyte S1305
Google Ion
Google Nexus One
Haier H7
Haier Tapas
Highscreen PP5420
Highscreen Zeus
Hisense HS-E90
HKC Imobile v413
HKC Pearl
HTC Aria (Formerly HTC Liberty)
HTC Bahamas
HTC Bee
HTC Blitz
HTC Desire (Formerly HTC Bravo)

HTC Desire 2
HTC Desire HD (Formerly HTC Ace)
HTC Desire Z
HTC Dream
HTC Droid Eris
HTC Droid Incredible
HTC Droid Incredible HD
HTC Emerald
HTC EVO 4G (Formerly HTC Supersonic)
HTC Fiesta
HTC Glacier
HTC Halo
HTC Hero

HTC Hero 2
HTC HSPA+ Android
HTC Huangshan
HTC Lancaster
HTC Legend
HTC Lexicon
HTC Liberty
HTC Magic
HTC Memphis

HTC Merge
HTC Paradise
HTC Predator
HTC Salsa
HTC Sapphire
HTC Schubert
HTC Scorpion
HTC Speedy
HTC Tattoo (Formerly HTC Click)
HTC Tianyi
HTC Vanguard
HTC Vision
HTC Wildfire
Huawei Ideos U8150

HTC Merge
HTC Paradise
HTC Predator
HTC Salsa
HTC Sapphire
HTC Schubert
HTC Scorpion
HTC Speedy
HTC Tattoo (Formerly HTC Click)
HTC Tianyi
HTC Vanguard
HTC Vision
HTC Wildfire
Huawei Ideos U8150
Huawei CHT8000
Huawei Movistar IVY
Huawei RBM2 Der Allrounder
Huawei U8100
Huawei U8110
Huawei U8220
Huawei U8226
Huawei U8230
Huawei U8300
Huawei U8800
i-mobile 8500

Innocomm Skate
Innocomm Shark
INQ^1
INQ Chat 3G
INQ Mini 3G
Koolu Freerunner
Kyocera ZIO M6000
Lenovo LePhone
Lenovo OPhone
LG Ally
LG Andro-1
LG enV Touch 2
LG GT540 Optimus
LG GT540 Swift
LG GW620 Eve
LG GW620 Linkme
LG GW880 Amundsen
LG GW880 Etna
LG InTouch Max
LG KH5200
LG KU9500 Optimus Z
LG Loop
LG LU2300 Eclipse
LG Optimus Chic
LG Optimus One with Google
LG Optimus Q
LG Optimus Z
LG Prada 3
LG SU950

LG Vortex
Lumigon E1
Lumigon S1
Lumigon T1
Meizu M9
Motorola Backflip MB501 (Formerly Motorola Motus)
Motorola Charm MB502 (Formerly Motorola Basil)
Motorola Citus WX445
Motorola CLIQ MB200 (Formerly Motorola Morrison)
Motorola CLIQ XT MB300 (Formerly Motorola Zeppelin)
Motorola Defy
Motorola Devour A555 (Formerly Motorola Calgary)
Motorola DEXT
Motorola Droid A855 (Formerly Motorola Sholes)
Motorola Droid 2 MB810 (Formerly Motorola Shadow)

Motorola Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition
Motorola Droid 2 World Edition A956
Motorola Droid Pro A957
Motorola Droid X
Motorola Flipout MB511 (Formerly Motorola Ruth)
Motorola Heron
Motorola i1 (Formerly Motorola Opus)
Motorola Jordan
Motorola LaJolla
Motorola Milestone XT720
Motorola Milestone 2
Motorola Ming A1680
Motorola Ming MT810
Motorola Ming XT806
Motorola Mirage
Motorola MOTO Milestone XT701
Motorola MOTO MT710
Motorola MOTO XT800
Motorola Motoglam
Motorola Motoqrty

Motorola Motoroi
Motorola Quench
Motorola Sage (Formerly known as the Asena and Gallardo)
Motorola XT610
NTT DoCoMo ?
Openmoko GTA02
Oppo ?
Orange Boston
Orange Project JAL
Orange San Franciso
Orange Tactile Internet
Pantech IWA600S Sirius
Pantech Sirius Sky
Philips V808
Philips V900
Qigi i6
Russian Technologies ?
Samsung Acclaim
Samsung Apollo
Samsung Beam i8520
Samsung Behold
Samsung Behold II
Samsung Bigfoot
Samsung Captivate
Samsung Continum I400
Samsung Corby
Samsung Epic 4G
Samsung Fascinate SGH-I500
Samsung Galaxy

Samsung Galaxy 3 i5801
Samsung Galaxy 5 i5503
Samsung Galaxy A
Samsung Galaxy Apollo i5800
Samsung Galaxy Beam i8520 (Formerly Samsung Halo)
Samsung Galaxy i5510
Samsung Galaxy Lite
Samsung Galaxy Mini
Samsung Galaxy Naos
Samsung Galaxy Portal
Samsung Galaxy Q
Samsung Galaxy S
Samsung Galaxy S2 I9200
Samsung Galaxy S Pro
Samsung Galaxy Teos
Samsung Galaxy U
Samsung Gem
Samsung Houdini
Samsung i899
Samsung i5500
Samsung i5700
Samsung i6500
Samsung i7500

Samsung InstincQ m900
Samsung Intercept
Samsung M100S
Samsung Moment
Samsung Saturn
Samsung Spica
Samsung Vibrant
Sanyo ZIO by Kyocera
Saygus VPhone V1
SciPhone N12
SciPhone N16
SciPhone N17
SciPhone N19
SciPhone N21
Sharp IS01
Sharp LYNX SH-10B
Sharp Tapas
Sony Ericsson Infinity
Sony Ericsson PSP ?
Sony Ericsson Robyn
Sony Ericsson Sunny
Sony Ericsson Susan
Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro
Sony Ericsson Yendo
Sunno S880
T-Mobile G1
T-Mobile G1 Blaze
T-Mobile G2
T-Mobile G2 Touch
T-Mobile myTouch 2
T-Mobile myTouch 3G
T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide
T-Mobile myTouch HD
T-Mobile Pulse
T-Mobile Pulse Mini
T-Mobile Sidekick
Tianyu Tapas
Tiger G3
TWM T1
Ulysse Nardin Chairman
Vibo A688
Vodaphone 845
Yuhua Tel X2
ZTE Black
ZTE Racer
ZTE Smooth

Maybe copy and paste and some of the phones are not available on US market. Also sorry for waste of macrumors page but you got the picture...
Rating: 9 Positives
Avatar
foodog
19 months ago

owned blackberry, now just android to destroy


Android isn't going anywhere... Carriers will continue to offer BOGO deals on Android based phones and so they will continue to be bought.

IOS is successful despite what Android based handsets do. Apple makes boatloads of money per handset, Android makes boatloads of money on volume.
Rating: 9 Positives
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slinky199
19 months ago

As expected.

Universally licensing your OS to anyone that can slam together a box (at all price points, regardless of unoptimized software, hardware quality and user experience) is designed for massive volume.

This is the story of Android, and we're seeing it playing out here.


No no. They've meet the necessary requirement for innovation (more sales, as you like to say), while iOS can barely keep up.
Rating: 9 Positives

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