Android and Windows Phone smartphone shipments reached milestones while smartphone shipments rose 39.9% year over year in 3Q 2013, according to the latest from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
Shipping 211.6 million units during 3Q, Android smartphone shipments accounted for over 80% of worldwide smartphone shipments for the first time. Android smartphones racked up an 81% market share in 3Q this year, up from 74.9% in 3Q 2012.
Windows Phone shipments increased an extraordinary 156% year over year, though from a base of just 3.7 million units a year ago, according to an IDC press release, good for a 3.6% share of the market, up from 2% a year ago.
“Android and Windows Phone continued to make significant strides in the third quarter. Despite their differences in market share, they both have one important factor behind their success: price,” commented Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Both platforms have a selection of devices available at prices low enough to be affordable to the mass market, and it is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward.”
Average selling prices (ASPs) for smartphones continued to decline, falling 12.5% from a year ago in 3Q, with an average selling price of $317.
IDC analysts also noted a “large influx of large-screen smartphones (5-7” screens), also known as phablets. Phablets’ ASPs for 3Q came in at $443, down 22.8% from $573 in 3Q 2012.
“Almost all successful Android vendors have added one or more 5-7-inch phablets to their product portfolios,” elaborated Ryan Reith, program director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
“And Nokia’s recent announcement of the Lumia 1320 and 1520 put them in the category as well. In 3Q13, phablet shipments accounted for 21% of the smartphone market, up from just 3% a year ago. We believe the absence of a large-screen device may have contributed to Apple’s inability to grow share in the third quarter.”
Apple iOS smartphone volume increased to record heights in 3Q (33.8 million), yet its market share declined to 12.9% in 3Q 2013 from 14.4% in 2012’s third quarter, “most likely due to soft demand in the weeks leading up to the launch of iOS7 smartphones,” according to IDC.
“Still, if the 9 million units sold during the last week of September is any indication of future adoption, iOS stands to reap another record quarter in terms of volumes, market share, and year-over-year growth,” IDC analysts added.
BlackBerry was the big loser among leading smartphone operating system vendors in 3Q, shipping 1.7 million units for a 0.6% market share, down from 8.4 million and 4.5% a year ago.
