Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system continued its steady march up the worldwide smartphone charts in the third quarter, reaching 52.5 percent, according to Gartner. The platform bested Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) Symbian platform at 17 percent, down from 36 percent a year ago; Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS, which dipped to 15 percent from 16.6 percent; and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) 11 percent plot, which is down from 15.4 percent in Q3 2010.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which is betting big on its Windows Phone 7 platform and Nokia's ability to sell a lot of Windows Phone handsets in 2012, dropped from 2.7 percent to just 1.5 percent. Android helped lead the 42 percent year-over-year boost in smartphone sales to 115 million units in the third quarter, as smartphone sales made up 26 percent of all mobile phone sales. "Apple's iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone." The iPhone 4 smashed sales records in its opening weekend.
Cozza said the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS will capture share from Android manufacturers in Q4 this holiday season. Samsung became the biggest smartphone vendor in the world during the third quarter, and Android's market share has surpassed 50 percent for the first time, market research company Gartner said on Tuesday as it reported on phone sales to end-users. Worldwide smartphone sales totalled 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42 percent from the third quarter of 2010. Android and Samsung were the big winners among smartphone operating systems and vendors, respectively.
Samsung's support for Android, and the availability of a wide variety of low-cost smartphones running the OS, helped Android grab a 52.5 percent share of the market: 60.5 million smartphones based on the various versions of the OS were sold, according to Cozza. Worldwide, Nokia is still the second biggest smartphone vendor and Symbian the second most popular smartphone OS. Consumers bought 19.5 million Symbian-based smartphones, giving the OS a 17 percent market share. Microsoft reached a new low during the third quarter as its operating system software now only has a 1.5 percent share of the smartphone market.
That makes iOS still the third most popular OS, with a 15 percent market share, and Apple the third biggest smartphone vendor. Microsoft wasn't the only OS vendor heading downward: Research In Motion (RIM) recorded new market share lows in both the U.S. and worldwide, at 10 percent and 11 percent, respectively. It sold about 12 million smartphones. Beyond smartphones, worldwide sales of all types of phones totaled 440.5 million units in the third quarter, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year. The five biggest vendors are Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, Apple and ZTE.
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