Android now the best selling smartphone OS in the world

According to the market research company Canalys, shipments of Android smartphones reached 32.9 million in the Q4 2010, making it the best-selling smartphone operating system in the world.

Symbian, long on top of the list, fell to second, at 31 million shipments.

In terms of market share, Android grew 615 percent from 2009 to take 32.5 percent, while Symbian fell from 44.4 percent to 30.6 percent in the same period.

Phone makers HTC and Samsung had notably strong years, accounting for 45 percent of the Android phone shipments.

Apple's iOS fell to third, at 16 percent, remaining practically flat year-over-year. Shipments increased 86 percent, however, to 16.2 million iPhones.

RIM's BlackBerry share dropped from 20 percent to 14.4, despite seeing a reasonably strong 35 percent growth in shipments.

Windows-based phones rounded out the top 5, although market share fell from 7.3 percent to just 3.1 percent. Windows Phone 7 sales were "steady," says the firm.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 31 Jan 2011 18:17

mike.m

Way to go Android. It definitely is the best operating system for smartphones as well as having the best hardware. I guess slowly, more people are waking up and starting to realise that they can get more functionality, better performance, and for cheaper with Android instead of buying crAppleware. I have to admit, I would like Windows Phone 7 to succeed. I really love that �organized look� OS, but the hardware wasn't good enough for me like Android was. MWC is Microsoft�s last chance, they better turn some heads.

31.1.2011 19:37 #1

internetdude

All done in a little over three years, Wow. Go little green guy.

Android rules.

31.1.2011 19:52 #2

DVDBack23

Originally posted by internetdude: All done in a little over three years, Wow. Go little green guy.

Android rules. Way less than that...Android 1.0 was released in October 2008, and I would call that more of a beta than anything, practically unusable unless you were a dev.

When 1.5 came in April 2009 is when it became a consumer product, so in honesty i'll say well done to Android for taking the title in 20 months!!

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31.1.2011 21:12 #3

internetdude

I remember that day ordered the G! the second it went on sale online.

Android rules

31.1.2011 21:17 #4

Joshewah

I'm still chugging along on my Sprint HTC Hero. Homebrew ROM cookers are keeping it alive.

It's slow by today standards, which is funny because the phone is barely a year old. Just goes to show how fast technology is advancing in the smartphone industry.

I'll stick with the Hero until Sprint gets some dual core phones. That'll probably be sometime around the year 2016 with the way things are going for them lol. They really need to get their s*** together.

X360 - iXtreme1.4 ||| Xbox - EvoX Dash ||| PS2 - CC 2.0 PRO SLE ||| Dreamcast ...lol ||| NDS - Acekard 2/M3 Simply/EZ Flash 3-1 ||| Rooted HTC Hero with Ic3rom

31.1.2011 21:53 #5

KillerBug

It seems amazing, but to be fair...just look at the competition. Apple is doing everything they can to sabotage their own product, microsoft thinks that a cell phone should be nothing but a facebook client, and RIM's idea of a superphone is something running at 400mhz. Oh, and most people don't even know Symbian exists.

Being the king of smart phones is like being the smartest kid in the "special class".

1.2.2011 01:34 #6

internetdude

Originally posted by KillerBug: It seems amazing, but to be fair...just look at the competition. Apple is doing everything they can to sabotage their own product, microsoft thinks that a cell phone should be nothing but a facebook client, and RIM's idea of a superphone is something running at 400mhz. Oh, and most people don't even know Symbian exists.

Being the king of smart phones is like being the smartest kid in the "special class". In that case the King needs to be in a class all by its self. Android is in a class all by its self, and is doing a bang up job, it will only gain momentum from here on and keep reaching for the stars. It looks like its exponential groth is still not stoping it.

Android rules

1.2.2011 01:46 #7

escalante

Android does indeed rule! I'm really looking forward as to how much better they can keep making the updates. Then how much the ROM communities will keep improving on *that*. Nexus One on Cyanognemod here :).

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1.2.2011 11:02 #8

internetdude

Being that its not a closed OS like iOS I expect it will have a robust subculture of people looking to mod and improve and tweak the OS till there hearts content for many years to come. As for updates its just another OS it will be update regularly.

1.2.2011 11:56 #9

lxhotboy

Love Android OS but its sad that with all the updates that have been done they still have the lamest media layout for music and other things. I miss the photo album covers and the way you could browse through albums on the iphone when you turn it sideways in the land scape view. Android need to put some time into their lame ass music interface. Sorry but other than that, GO ANDROID!

1.2.2011 18:43 #10

internetdude

Originally posted by lxhotboy: Love Android OS but its sad that with all the updates that have been done they still have the lamest media layout for music and other things. I miss the photo album covers and the way you could browse through albums on the iphone when you turn it sideways in the land scape view. Android need to put some time into their lame ass music interface. Sorry but other than that, GO ANDROID! Well wait till you see Honeycombs music player its real nice, does not have the touch flow of iOS but then again that would be copying.

1.2.2011 18:47 #11

Jemborg

Originally posted by internetdude: Originally posted by lxhotboy: Love Android OS but its sad that with all the updates that have been done they still have the lamest media layout for music and other things. I miss the photo album covers and the way you could browse through albums on the iphone when you turn it sideways in the land scape view. Android need to put some time into their lame ass music interface. Sorry but other than that, GO ANDROID! Well wait till you see Honeycombs music player its real nice, does not have the touch flow of iOS but then again that would be copying. So? Imitation is the name of the game in this business. The slicker Android looks and feels the better.

Its a lot easier being righteous than right.

3.2.2011 08:29 #12

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