MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Apple’s smartphone market share has dropped to less than 14 per cent, according to market research from Strategy Analytics.
Apple has dominated developer attention since the launch of the iPhone, but as more customers get on board the mobile trend the company has lost ground to the rival Android platform in terms of handsets sold.
All told, global smartphone sales grew 47 per cent in the last year to reach 230 million units in the second quarter of 2013.
Strategy Analytics reports that one third of these sales went to Samsung, and Apple’s sales fell to their lowest percentage of the total market in three years.
“Global smartphone shipments grew 47 percent annually from 156.5 million units in Q2 2012 to 229.6 million in Q2 2013,” said Strategy Analytics senior analyst Neil Shah.
“This was the largest volume of smartphones ever shipped in a single quarter. Smartphones accounted for 59 percent of all mobile phones shipped globally. The smartphone industry’s shipment growth rate, which is higher today than a year ago, is being driven by surging demand for 4G models in developed regions like the US and 3G models in emerging markets such as India."
Neil Mawston, the executive director at the firm, said that Samsung grew by 56 per cent and shipped 76 million smartphones – twice as many as Apple.
“The flagship Galaxy S4 model experienced solid demand in China and worldwide and helped to lift volumes,” he said.
“Samsung’s next major flagship launch is likely to be the rumored Note 3 model later this year. Apple shipped 31.2 million iPhones worldwide in Q2 2013, up from 26 million a year earlier.”
The problem isn’t that Apple is selling less phones, but that it isn’t selling enough to keep pace with the rest of the industry.
“Apple grew just 20 per cent annually during Q2 2013, which is less than half the overall smartphone industry average of 47 per cent,” explained Mawston.
“Apple’s global smartphone marketshare of 14 per cent is at its lowest level since the second quarter of 2010. The current iPhone portfolio is under-performing and Apple is at risk of being trapped in a pincer movement between rival 3-inch Android models at the low-end and 5-inch Android models at the high-end."
