Global Smartphone Shipments Exceed 300M Units In Q2 2014

The global smartphone market experienced a 25.3% growth year over year in the second quarter of 2014, and achieved an unprecedented single quarter record of 301.3 million overall shipments. These findings come from the Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, which was released by the International Data Corporation (IDC). 5.2% in sequential growth was also recorded, mainly due to the continuous inflation of mobile computing demand and the number of low-priced smartphones. [See Figure 1]

According to the IDC, the quarter’s mobile shipments have bested the 300 million unit mark, which marked the industry’s “major milestone.” The IDC expects smartphone shipments to continue to rise in the second half of 2014, eventually exceeding 300 million units in the third quarter of 2014.

Additionally, Android shipped over 255 million units in the second quarter of 2014, resulting in its continued dominance in the global smartphone market. As seen in Figure 2 above, Android gained a strong 84.7% of the overall market share, which was primarily driven by “gains in the low ($US$100<US$200) and ultra low-end (<US$100) of the market.”

The said categories have been growing since the first quarter, with a 16.5% recorded sequential increase. Furthermore, the IDC also revealed the dominance of Samsung as the largest vendor of Android-based devices, leading over Huawei, Lenovo, and LG. In fact, a separate study from Chitika shows that Samsung overtakes other devices in the market in terms of Android web traffic.

iOS comes second in the market, with 11.7% market share. It was a slight decrease from 13.0% in the same quarter last year. Likewise, its market share has continued to decline since 2011 due to the “growing shift of demand toward low-cost smartphones.” Despite Apple’s desire to target the wider market with the iPhone 5C, most iOS devices are still relatively costly and unaffordable for the average consumer.

While Windows phone had a minor increase from this year’s first quarter, its market share dropped to 2.5% year-over-year this second quarter, with 7.4 million total shipments. Nokia remains the primary source of the device’s growth in the market, regardless of the “healthy showing of Android-based Nokia X shipments in second quarter.”

Blackberry’s market share remains below one percent, with only 0.5% this quarter. However, on the positive side, it had a slight increase compared to the first quarter. Also, the IDC states that “this is a good sign for the struggling smartphone maker.” Most of the growth this quarter is accounted for Blackberry 10, which is noteworthy considering that it was only released last year.

What do you think of the IDC’s Q2 2014 study on mobile shipments and global smartphone OS market share? What other factors may have led to Android’s continued dominance over iOS and other devices? Let us know your opinions in the Comments section below!

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