By Consumers vote with their wallets and over the last 6 months, the majority of smartphone voters are checking Android when they drop their credit card into the ballot box. Nielsen reports that in the United States, Android has reached 43% marketshare for smartphones but when polling those who purchased within the last 6 months, 56% are choosing Android.
It doesn’t look like Android’s growth will slow down anytime soon. That being said, it’s would be interesting to breakdown these statistics further as I’m sure some interesting patterns exist and new ones will emerge:
- What percentage of first-time smartphone buyers are choosing Android?
- What percentage of BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Phone, or WebOS users are defecting to Android and how do those numbers compare?
- What percentage of current Android users are defecting to iPhone, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone?
- Are there any people on the planet going from a smartphone back to a feature phone (which should probably be renamed featureless phone)?
I’d like to see these questions answered, but in today’s relatively volatile tech market anything can happen. A few years ago, Android didn’t even exist. Even more recently, WebOS was hands-down the hottest hyped mobile platform. And even MORE recently, Nokia was innovating like crazy.
Okay… scratch that last one.
Android will almost certainly continue its surge to the top. While the majority of smartphone buyers are choosing android phones over the competition, it’s interesting to note that Android is still #3 behind BlackBerry and Apple in total handsets owned according to Nielsen.
With Microsoft on the verge of launching Mango, Apple on the verge of launching a new iPhone, HP on the verge of selling WebOS, and Blackberry on the verge of nothing, where will these stats stand in a year? As always, there’s never a lack of excitement in the mobile tech world and we’re eager to see another strong year for Android moving into 2012.
[Via Nielsen]
Could it be any clearer that Samsung devices aren’t effecting Apples sales? Everyone else is loosing ground except iOS and Android. So an alliance of manufacturers and carriers are driving forward on sales more than a single corporation…hmmm…go figure. It’s almost like this has happened before to Apple.
Not disagreeing with you, but you need to realize the smartphone “pie” is getting bigger as more and more people make the upgrade to smartphone from a feature phone.
Actually, Apple is losing ground. The writer of the article was incorrect in saying that Apple was still number 1 in total volume, as Apple is behind Android @ 28% to 43% overall, respectively. This rehashed article was also incorrect in stating it was a 3month period, either way right now for the last 3 months Apple’s sales have been flat, while Android is gaining ground. With an increased amount of people entering the pool and with Android gaining at a higher percentage, overall you have Apple losing ground. Also, if you have read other statics regarding Apple’s sales, a high number of their customers are returning customers >85%, which adds to their slow line of growth. Granted the next iphone will be releasing soon, either the iphone 4gs or the 5, a lot of the sales will be from returning customers. They will have a high amount of activations for 2-3 weeks, but after all the fanboys get their devices their sales will return to flat numbers once again. What is really killing it for Apple imo is that they are getting a bad rap as being for soccer-moms and old people. I mean seriously the phone is so played out and simplistic that Hulk Hogan owns one and can actually use it. What kind of teenager/young adult really wants to buy into that…
Where does the article say this?:
“While the majority of smartphone buyers are choosing android phones over the competition, it’s interesting to note that Android is still #3 behind BlackBerry and Apple in total handsets owned according to Nielsen.
”
Isn’t the 43% for total handsets owned?
The percentages of handsets sold today matter because that is how the market is changing. The handsets people have, which they have bought some time in the past, represent what people bought in the past.
If you are a seller, you care about what people are likely to buy in the future. Which represents that future better? What is sold in the very recent block of time (say 3 months), or what was sold prior to that (say, last year)?
You point out the present dominance of Apple and BB. When Apple first started shipping, they had a minority share — yet looking at how *hot* the item was, it would not have been surprising to anyone that they were on to something. Similarly, looking at how Android is presently doing, and the trends of it having continued to game steam over time, it is easy to infer how things are changing — regardless of how many existing handsets BB and Apple currently have sold in the past.
Did you even look at the graph you posted? 3 months, not 6.
Look at that stagnant growth.
Android is already starting to overtake the feature phone market. With everyone going to tiered data plans (i.e. AT&T $15-200MB/mo.) and several nice ‘mid-range’ Android units on the market, who needs the traditional feature phone? And why would OEM’s be interested in trying to build up those custom OS’s and app selections when Android OS is free and the Android Market comes with it?
I work for a small private company that has 10 employees inc myself. I own the only Android phone in the whole place. But due to my nerdiness at work, atleast 2-3 of my co workers will jump ship to Android eventually. Possibly more.
These super late adopters will deff help Android grow. Especially once (if) they like the OS, they will also recommend it to people
The graph puts Android as highest total owned (with 43%), the article says it is third. The graph says Android has 56% of smartphone sales in the last 3 months, the article says 6 months.
Either this article is badly written and badly proof-read, or slight differences between the article and the graph (are “total owned” and “all subscribers” different things?) need to be explicitly explained.
as far as i see android will be on top with in some time.i love android not because it is developed by google it gives u freedom in everything :)
http://android-iphone.net
Reading about the Samsung Wave running Bada approaching 10 million sold since 2010…I wanna know the actual break down of that 6% and WP7…