Research firm International Data Corporation [IDC] has released its worldwide smartphone shipments report for Q2 2014, noting the smartphone market moved past the 300 million unit mark for the first time in its history as it reached 301.3 million units, up 25.3% from the 240.5 million units shipped in Q2 2013.
Latest data from the report shows that Google (GOOGL)’s Android operating system hit a new record for market share during 2Q’14, shipping a total of 255.3 million Android-based smartphones, up 33.3% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL)’s iOS, despite posting 12.7% year-over-year shipment growth, saw its market share decline.
IDC expects Android, which together with iOS saw their combined market share jump to 96.4% for the quarter, to remain the dominant smartphone operating system. Currently, Android is the clear market leader among operating systems owning 84.7% of the market. However, the firm sees the platform as loosing a minimal amount of market share till 2018. Surprisingly, that would be a result of Microsoft (MSFT) ‘s Windows Phone, currently the clear number 3 smartphone platform.
Here is IDC’s Top Five Smartphone OS, Worldwide Shipments, and Market Share, Q2’14 (Units in Millions)
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These terrific sales volumes are not sustainable. The smartphone markets in the UK and South Korea are already saturated. The US will soon be saturated once late adopters start buying phones priced under $100. Incremental OS improvements won’t entice low-income consumers to ditch older phones that still work.