Android has achieved a tremendous new milestone unparallelled among other feats observed in the contemporary smartphone space.
On Friday, IDC confirmed that the Android smartphone operating system was found on three out of every four smartphones shipped during the third quarter of 2012.
Think of it this way: Android’s total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in the year that Android was officially announced.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75.0% of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12.
The 91.5% year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4%.
“Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC. “In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market.”
