With shipments close to 653 million units, global smartphone sales are expected to double by the year 2016, according to an independent research agency Ovum.
Android, which became the No 1 one operating system in the world earlier this year, has also been the fastest adopted mobile operating system ever, according to the agency. Android is expected to gain a massive 38 per cent market share by the year 2016 and will be the driving force for the smartphone sales worldwide, Ovum adds further.
Robust sales coupled with intense competition would help in bring down the pricesof both smartphones and applications, it opined.
“The smartphone market will see significant growth over the next five years, once again outperforming the wider mobile phone market. We will see dramatic shifts in dominance for smartphone software platforms, with Android storming into the lead with 38 per cent market share, compared to Apple iOS’ 17.5 per cent, by 2016,” said Adam Leach, principal analyst, Ovum.
The reason for the growing popularity of Android are not singular but increase in the usage of applications worldwide can be one of the major reasons. According to the research, the reason for Android’s popularity is that it is being adopted by various hardware vendors for devices at both high and low price points.
According to Ovum’s forecast, Apple iOS will be just behind the Android in terms of sales with a market share of 17.2 per cent following closely by Windows Phone with 17.2 per cent market share by 2016. BlackBerry OS will come next with 16.5 per cent market share.
The expectations are that with Microsoft having a dedicated hardware partner now, after the Nokia Microsoft tie-up, many hardware vendors might want to do away with Windows Mobile as their operating system.