Gartner: Android Held 43% of Worldwide Smartphone Share in Q2
Q2 numbers from Gartner have rolled in, folks, and Android’s looking stronger than it ever has. Of the 107 million smartphones that were sold worldwide in the previous quarter this year, a bit over 43% were Android with 46.7 million units pushed out of the door. This is an improvement over 17.2% in the same quarter just a year ago.
In contrast, Apple only sold 18.2% of smartphones in Q2 compared to a paltry 14% the same quarter a year ago. Most will likely attribute this to anticipating of a new iPhone being released soon.
As for others, Nokia only had a bit over 22% of sales, confirmation that they are quickly losing mind share and will need to do something fast to recover. RIM had a decent 11.7%, though they are facing rough times ahead.
Microsoft only had 1.6% of the pie last quarter, giving them around 1.7 million units sold. To put that into perspective, it took Android around 8 months to grab 1.8% of the Q2 market share in 2009. Windows Phone 7 has only had just under a year so far, so its trajectory of growth is right in line with what Android’s was. It’s worthy to note that Bada has sold a bit more than Microsoft has last quarter, something we would elect to snicker at if not out of respect for Samsung’s strategy.
We don’t know if Windows Phone 7 eventually blossom as Android did, but unless you consider the fact that Windows-based smartphones were prevalent long before Windows Phone 7, Microsoft shouldn’t have too much to worry about yet. Different circumstances tell the tale, though, so we can only wait and see if they’ll recapture the market they once had.