Android Accounts for 81.7% of all Smartphones Sold at The End of 2016

Gartner has released their quarterly smartphone sales report and it is solid news for both Android and iOS.  In the report, the analyst company states that Android accounted for 81.7% of all smartphones solid in Q4 of last year.  If you add that to the 17.7% for iOS, these two platforms account for 98.4% of all smartphone sales.  It is a staggering number and it goes a long way in explaining why the Microsoft’s and Blackberry’s of the world have all-but killed their own Operating Systems on mobile devices.

The report goes on to say that Apple has surpassed Samsung as the top selling brand globally in the final quarter of the year.

The report sheds light on what was already known:  Android and iOS are the only two viable players in the mobile space from an Operating

Android Nougat

System point of view.  Windows Phone accounted for just .3% while Blackberry accounted for 0%.  Google and Apple simply dominate with robust ecosystems and with flagship devices like the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S7 and the iPhone 7, the premium phone market is continuing to grow.  But, at least for Android, there are also a wide number of choices in the mid-range and budget markets.

Brand wise, Apple passed Samsung in Q4 for the top spot, accounting for 17.9% of sales.  It wasn’t a big margin of victory however as Samsung came in at 17.8%.  Huawei jumped a respectable 1.5% over the same quarter in 2015, accounting for 9.5% of sales and finishing 3rd.

How much the Q1 report of this year will be impacted will be interesting.  Mobile World Congress kicks off in a few weeks with several phone announcements for Android expected and, separately, Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S8.  That could push the South Korean manufacture back to the #1 spot as Apple likely won’t introduce their next phone, assumed to be the iPhone 8, until later in the year.