Apple’s iOS is slowly cutting into Android’s global market share

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Apple's iOS is slowly cutting into Android's global market share

StockApps (via Wccftech) points out that based on data from Statista, Android’s global market share has fallen over the last few years from 77.32% in 2018 to 69.74%. While it still gives Android a big head start over iOS, it seems that the latter is slowly gaining ground. Over the same period (five years), iOS has gone from a 19.4% share of the worldwide smartphone pie to 25.49% in January 2022.

Android’s global market share relative to iOS has been declining over the last few years

While Android and iOS together own almost 100% of the market, at the bottom of the chart that accompanies this story, you can see some of the operating systems that exist, though you probably won’t find anyone you know or even walk the streets. a phone running these operating systems. In this group lives KaiOS, which is a Linux-based platform that gives feature phones some smartphone-like features, including the ability to install apps.

Other operating systems that run along the bottom of the graph include Windows Phone, Tizen, and the Nokia S40. While iOS is the leading mobile OS in the United States, Android has a big lead in regions marked with “development.” For example, Android in Asia has a market share of 81%, rising to 90% in South America.

One theory for the rising iOS share is that Apple has been able to make progress in emerging markets thanks to their cheaper iPhone SE models. So far, however, sales of the latest version of the “cheaper” iPhone have been “weak”, according to trusted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

But there is no denying that the economy of a particular region plays a major role in determining which OS is preferred in certain markets. Android’s share in Africa is 84%, and 14% own an iOS-powered phone (an iPhone). Although not as dominant in Europe, Android on the continent is still found on 69.32% of smartphones compared to iOS ‘share of 30%.

In North America, iOS is at the top

In North America, iOS has a lead of 54% to 45% over Android. Interestingly, it was not until May 2012 that Android took the lead globally with market share for mobile operating systems at 23.81%. Symbian, which had been at the top for years, dropped to third place with a 20.25% share of the global global mobile OS cake, and the 22.95% share owned by iOS placed it in second place after Android.

Unless Apple drags down iPhone prices drastically, or per capita income rises sharply in developing countries, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Android will give up its huge lead over iOS. But that does not mean that there will not be fluctuations like the ones we have seen over the last few years where iOS has cut into Android’s global lead.

At an individual level, consumers have their preferred phone brand and operating system, and certain features may cause one person to purchase one device over another. But looking at the big picture, none of the operating systems have a particular must-have feature that would change things, which means pricing really is the key.