The latest numbers from research firm Gartner reveal that the smartphone industry continues to be largely a two-horse race between iOS and Android. The two mobile operating systems combined for 98.4 percent worldwide market share in the fourth calendar quarter of 2015, compared to 96.4 percent in the year-ago quarter.
Android remained the world's most widely used smartphone operating system with 80.7 percent market share, while iOS recorded 17.7 percent market share. The fourth quarter has historically been the most successful for iPhone and Android-based smartphone sales due to the holiday shopping season.
Apple and Samsung shipped a collective 551.2 million smartphones in 2015, trailed by Huawei, Lenovo-Motorola, and Xiaomi with 107.1 million, 73.9 million, and 72 million shipments respectively, according to recent Strategy Analytics data. Global smartphone shipments totaled a record 1.44 billion in 2015.
Windows Phone was perhaps the closest platform to being a true third place competitor, but its market share has dwindled as iOS and Android continue to grow. Samsung and Mozilla also have Linux-based mobile operating systems in Tizen and Firefox OS respectively, but adoption of each platform is comparatively slim.
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing.
Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1.
Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...
Tuesday March 25, 2025 11:52 am PDT by Juli Clover
Leaker Jon Prosser today shared a mockup of what he says the Messages app will look like in iOS 19, demoing an interface with rounded, translucent bubble-shaped navigation buttons at the top and softer, rounder corners for the keyboard and word suggestions.
Jon Prosser's Messages app mockup
The return button, a button for going back to the Messages list, and the FaceTime button have a deeper...
Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost.
The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month.
In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4.
For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3 and AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which...
Wednesday March 26, 2025 12:19 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is going all out with promotions for the popular Severance Apple TV+ show today, and as of right now, you'll find a new "Lumon Terminal Pro" listed on Apple's Mac site.
The Lumon Terminal Pro is designed to look similar to the machines that Severance employees like Mark S. and Helly R. use for macrodata refinement. The Terminal features a blue keyboard, a small display with wide...
The iOS 19 mockup images that leaker Jon Prosser shared today are not representative of the actual iOS 19 design, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on social media.
According to Gurman, the images that are "floating around" are based on "very old builds" or "vague descriptions," and are lacking key features. Gurman says that we can "expect more from Apple in June."
Gurman made the same comment ...
Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall.
Design
There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
Not sure what those entities have to do with this thread.
You said consumers should care about profits, and I'm guessing when your electric bill, gas bill, cell bill, interest rate etc goes up, you aren't cheering the companies on because they are making a good profit.
iOS and Android Capture Combined 98.4% Share of Smartphone Market
Interesting language in the title.
Really, it should read something like "Apple secures just 17.7% of market, down from 20.4%" or "Apple's smartphone market share declines to 17.7%". But by lumping Apple in with Android, MacRumors are trying to make it all sound positive for Apple.
Microsoft could use the same logic by saying "iOS, Android and Windows Phone capture combined 99.5% share of smartphone market"
No mention of the fact that Windows is at 87%. No mention of the fact that various Linuxes and Unixes make up another 2% or so.
But when we talk about iOS, it's important to talk about the market share that everyone else has, and the fact that iOS + Android make up 98% of the market, even though nearly identical statements could be said about OS X and Windows. [doublepost=1455811689][/doublepost] That's because Microsoft has thrown in the towel. They're now putting their services on Android and iOS devices.
Although I feel that the move was premature. I feel like they could really use laptops running Windows 10 to sell Surface products, which could then be used to sell Windows 10 Phones.
My view is that Microsoft really screwed up and had a great chance to come up with a third alternative system that would have had great leverage in taking advantage of Windows 10. Instead, they are short sighted and only playing with others.
