Android is taking over the world – official

Rating: Revelation buried in Canalys’ latest figures

It appears that the Android mobile OS is continuing its inexorable rise within the smartphone sector. This revelation is buried deep in figures recently released by market watchers – Canalys concerning smartphone shipments in China. However, it has also provided figures on a global basis. These show that Android has continued to grow in significance – surpassing 100 million quarterly smartphone shipments for the first time in Q2 2012. This effectively means that two out of every three smartphones are now running Google’s mobile OS. It also explains why Nokia is fast losing any hope of retaining a large share of the smartphone market.According to Pete Cunningham, a principal analyst with Canalys, “Growth in Android volumes of 110 per cent far outpaced growth in the overall market of 47 per cent year-on-year.”

These figures are heavily driven by Samsung which saw Android volumes of over 45 million, according to Cunningham.

Samsung now has a full and broad portfolio of products – ranging from its high-end flagship Galaxy S III right down to its aggressively priced Galaxy Y and Galaxy Mini. And all running Android, of course.

The Korean manufacturer’s sponsorship of the London Olympics and subsequent product placements, “Are sure to attract new customers to ensure that Q3 delivers a strong performance,” Cunningham added.

So – continuing on the Olympic theme, “Samsung has retained its gold medal position in the global smart phone market with a 31 per cent share, followed by Apple and Nokia once again.”

How long is Nokia going to hang on to its Gold medal, GoMobile News wonders?

Luckily for Nokia, Huawei and ZTE were unable to push in on the global Top Five with shipments of their own branded devices.

However, HTC has moved up to fourth place just ahead of RIM which shipped 8.5 million BlackBerries in Q2 2012.

See here for Canalys’ latest smartphone shipment figures.