Android has virtual monopoly over the Indian market and the same has been established in a recent research of Strategy Analytics in which it was revealed that 97 per cent of all smartphones in India are based on Android operating system.
As per Strategic Analytics, last year Android had 90 per cent market share which has now increased to 97 per cent while currently Apple’s iOS has 2.4 per cent market share. Interestingly, last year iOS had 4.5 per cent market share in India.
As per the research, of the total of shipments of about 30.7 million units of smartphones in Q2 2016, 29.8 million units were running on Android followed by 0.8 million units based on Apple iOS and the balance constituted Others. In Q2 2015, 25.8 million shipments were registered thereby there has been a growth of 19 percent in the total amount of shipments. Last year though, Apple had more share in the shipments measuring at 1.2 million units.
“Android shipped 29.8 million smartphones in India in Q2 2016, growing an impressive 28 percent annually from 23.2 million units in Q2 2015. Android maintained first position across India with a record 97 percent OS share for the quarter, up from 90 percent a year ago. Android dominates the India smartphone market and looks unbeatable right now, due to its deep portfolio of hardware partners, extensive distribution channels, and a wide range of low-cost apps like Gmail,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.
Android, being an open platform (free), was adopted by small and big device makers alike. Because it is free, manufacturers were able to bring devices on Android OS at very affordable prices. On the other hand, Apple’s iOS based devices are costlier and hence it has less market share.