StockApps’ report on the global smartphone operating system market states that Android’s dominance of the global OS market is declining while Apple iOS is gradually gaining.
In the past five years, Android’s OS market share has declined by 7.5% and Apple iOS has gained a 6% market share. In January 2022, Android OS share stood at 69.7%, a dip from its 77.32% market share in July 2018. The report cites increased competition in the OS space as the reason for the change in the market share of the world’s most dominant mobile operating systems.
It is explained that out of all the operating systems in the world, Android is available on most devices and iOS is the second most used OS, while the lesser-known operating systems have a very small market share.
Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS dominate the smartphone operating system (OS) space. Today 7 out of 10 phones run on the Android OS, while two of the remaining three are most likely to be iOS powered. Occasionally, one out of those three will be using one of the other less known OS’. However, Android’s dominance is coming under increasing pressure from the other players if we go by market data.
Although Apple iOS saw growth in the past 5 years, it is still unlikely to dominate the global mobile OS space
Commenting on the Android’s loss of ground, StockApps.com’s finance expert Edith Reads stated that Google’s OS is facing increased competition, especially from Apple’s iOS, therefore, it has seen a decline in the past five years.
Android’s loss of market share boils down to heightened competition within the OS space. A look at the data shows that iOS gained 6% between July 2018 and January 2022. From 19.4% then, Apple has grown its OS market share to 25.49%. Other small scale OS developers account for the remaining 1.58% that Google shed.”
Reads furthermore explains that OS dominance is geographic; Android devices are most popular in Africa, Asia, South America, and even Europe and iOS commands 54% of OS market share in North America and Oceania. Perhaps the difference in price points of Android and iOS smartphones is the reason for Android’s success.
Having said that, the expert believes that Apple and other operating systems will have to do something out of the box to take over Android’s domination of the global OS space.
Edith doesn’t think that Android’s command is under threat. She says Android’s open-source nature and affordability have endeared it to the masses across the globe. She adds that Google has built an unassailable gap and that it’ll take something extraordinary for Apple and the rest to overturn it.
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