iOS gains ground in recent years, Android still dominates the global market
According to research done by StockApps, Apple’s iOS has been gaining ground for the last four years and has eaten a good chunk of Android’s global OS market share. Google’s OS is still the dominant OS.
In 2018, Android had a 77. 32% market share while this year, it is estimated that about 69. 74% of all devices in the world run Android. That’s almost an 8% drop in four years. In contrast, iOS has grown from 19. 4% to 25. 49% throughout the same period.
There could be many reasons behind this but the most obvious one is that Apple has expanded its smartphone and tablet lineup significantly. In the past few years, Apple has released four iPhone SE flagships instead of just two. It is evident that customers are happier when they have more options and pay less.
However, Apple is unlikely to be able to dethrone Android due to the open-source nature Android. Only Apple devices are sold with iOS while Android can be implemented on various devices, not just smartphones and tablets. Also, despite Apple’s efforts of expanding its portfolio of iOS devices, Android still has variety on its side, with smartphones ranging from $100 to $1,000+.
Then there’s Android’s domination in markets where iPhones are a lot more expensive than their rivals. South America and Africa are just two examples as the former market has just 10% iOS adoption. In contrast, in North America Apple is enjoying more than half of the market share.