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About This Statistic
This statistic shows the market share of smartphone unit shipments worldwide from 2014 to 2021, by operating system. In 2017, the Android operating system is forecast to hold a 85 percent share of smartphone shipments. As of 2016, Android's most popular platform version was KitKat.
Mobile operating systems – additional information
The market of mobile operating systems (OS) has seen major changes over the past few years. By 2009, around half of the smartphones sold worldwide had the Symbian OS pre-installed. Two years later, Android, a mobile operating system developed by Google, became the market leader.
According to a forecast, the market share of Apple’s iOS, which is exclusively used by Apple hardware, will remain relatively stable between 2014 and 2021. Android OS held the highest global market share in 2016. Windows Phone was developed by Microsoft and has established close ties to Nokia. Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone division in 2014 might help Windows Phone to gain further momentum on the market.
In the world’s two largest smartphone markets, the U.S. and China, the situation of Windows Phone remains rather severe. By the end of 2016, its market share was 3 percent in the United States, down from 4.4 percent in January 2012. It held a barely measurable .16 percent share of the Chinese mobile market in February 2017. However, in other emerging markets such as India, Windows Phone is almost popular than Apple’s iOS. One contributing factor might be found in Microsoft’s low pricing strategy and their focus on affordable smartphone segments.
