Nearly a billion smartphones (998 million to be precise) were shipped in 2013, and 79 percent of those devices were on Android. According to tech trends watcher Canalys, almost eight out of ten smartphones shipped last year runs Google’s Android operating system.
The increase can be attributed to Android’s popularity in emerging markets, as the trend of lower-priced smartphones rise. In our country alone, Android’s popularity was pushed by the variety and availability of good quality, low cost devices. Local retailers continuously release aggressively priced, Jelly Bean running, multi-core devices to compete against Samsung’s high end Galaxy line and Apple’s iPhone.
The biggest surprise came from Microsoft, which saw its mobile shipments rise to 90 percent in 2013, raising its share by a percentage point to 3 percent. It doesn’t look like much, but Canalys noted that Windows Phone saw the fastest growth year-over-year. Apple’s iOS fell to 15 percent in 2013, down from 20 percent in 2012.
Canalys tracked smartphone shipments from more than 50 countries to come up with the results.
Via CBC News
