Was rather surprised that Apple too such a large hit in market share this quarter..

Android nearly breaks 65% market share, as it continues to grow its marketshare every quarter. It's up from ~85 million handsets sold in Q2 2012. Apple's iOS was down nearly 2 million handsets from Q1, and its peak is still the 35 million units sold in Q4 of 2011 (35 million handsets).

RIM and Symbian continue to get destroyed. There's very little life left in either. One note of interest is Microsoft's minor comeback. It delivered 4.1 million units, up from 2.7 million units. This is the most units Microsoft has sold since Q4 2009. The most units sold in Microsoft's smartphone history is just 4.7 million units, so if they can keep up the growth, they may be able to break their record soon. But will it be enough to make the war a 3-horse race?

Oh, and by my count: Android is now the most popular smartphone OS in history. It surpassed Sybmian's install base (441.5 million LTD), as it now stands at 473 million units, life to date. Its crazy to think about, but 21% of every Android device ever sold was sold last quarter alone. If you think that Android is slowing down, its doing the opposite of it. It seems that its still asorbing RIM and Symbian's marketshare.

You can now buy iPhones on other networks like Verizon. Apple has just about saturated the carriers (finally).

Apple has always had their achilles heel, which is also their strength: Closed architecture/hardware. Its a boon for things like game developers, because there is no fragmentation, but users dislike the fact that the iPhone is one-size-fits-all. So if someone wants a different type of model, they have to choose another OS. Much like the PC-Apple-Amiga wars of the late 80s and early 90s. Its the same thing here. I've been saying that it'd happen the same way for ~3 years now.

What is so funny is that these numbers change widely each quarter.
And each quarter, analysts predict that it is the beginning of the end for the "company" (format) that is on the short end.
They then repeat the process when things reverse themselves in three months -- with the opposite conclusion of course.

Mike from Morgantown

Pretty sure its been the end for Symbian and RIM for awhile - which has been playing out exactly as suggested.

Android is just a much deeper OS no question. IOS is fine, it's app store is still (barely) better, and it runs really smooth, but with jelly bean, android is just as smooth, allows for customization, is open, and it's app store is getting better and better. All on superior hardware for cheaper.

Yet they pocket 77% of mobile profit share with that market share. So depends how you look at getting "hammered".

http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/06/apple-mobile-industry-profit-share-q2-2012/

1. It's the quarter before a new iPhone release, and everyone knows the release date (Sept 21). No one would buy an iPhone now if they hadn't already this year.

2. Apple doesn't service the low to lower mid market. Android is replacing Symbian in the feature phone market, Apple has no intention of even entering that space.

So, Android is more popular, but /Apple is not getting hammered/. If anything they are winning with a crazy profit margin AND high unit sales. Android did not go up because they are "better" and it's no use trying to list the features people are supposedly switching for, because they are not.

apple had still a huge growth. i mean, that's almost 50% growth compared to the same quarter one year earlier but android is just growing faster as a whole. would be interesting to see which manufacturer has which marketshar only for android.

I expect Apple's market share will continue to decline for some time ...

Apple produces high end hardware and sells it at a premium which gives them healthy margins but limits the size of their market. In developed nations where people can afford their product, smart phones mostly do what everyone wants them to so it is difficult to create new features that can justify the purchase of a premium product; and in developing nations less expensive phones are far more viable.

This isn't to say that Apple is in trouble, but they primarily sell based on the fashion of owning an Apple product; and that can not grow forever.

Good point. It's not just about the market share, it's about the profit. It's a no brainer that a free OS on phones you can get for free will attract the most manufacturers and customers. Android doesn't make Google any money which is a shame.

It's a bit like saying Toyota hammers Daimler in car sales without pointing out that Toyota makes half of the profits of Daimler.

So yeah, I suppose it's right to Android is hammering iOS but I rather be in Apples position and make the huge profits, Android and it's phone manufacturers can keep the sales.

Android and the upcoming Windows 8 are more in direct competition as they rely on other manufacturers to build their phones. Would manufacturers prefer to pay MS to use their OS or put more resources in opensource Android?