It’s that time again when we discuss projections by research firm IDC (International Data Corporation) when they release their quarterly mobile phone tracker report. And they have good news for Windows Phone, which does not necessarily spell doom for the other OS platforms. Android and iOS will still grow, lesser OSes won’t make an impact.
Android devices will remain at the helm of device volumes with very minimal change to volume share. IDC expects that Android will command 80% of the global marketshare and 61% of the revenues, iOS will remain second with 13% of the volume share and 34% of the revenues reflecting a resilient value proposition going all the way to 2018.
Windows Phone will still be the weak number 3 with a double growth in volume-share at 5.6% and 4.2% of the revenues. Windows phone is expected to be at 2% which is a drop from 3% sometime back. Shipments for Windows Phone devices are expected to triple from 35 million this year to 105 million in 2018.
Other OSes like Tizen, Ubuntu, Jolla and Firefox are not expected to make a dent even in 5 years unless they make a radical approach to the mobile market. They are projected to be at 1.6% of the volumes with a mere 1.1% of the revenues and a double in sales volumes from 14 million this year to 30 million then.
“As shipment volume slows, we expect greater attention to shift toward value trends,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phonesteam. “Apple’s approach with premium pricing ensures a growing portion of overall revenues despite its declining market share. Meanwhile, Android’s multi-faceted approach – with forked versions and low-cost Android One strategy – will produce mixed results, yet it allows deeper penetration into emerging markets. That can lead to additional pressure on its vendor partners, who will need to seek greater differentiation in terms of devices and experiences in the hyper-competitive smartphone market.”
Worldwide Smartphone Forecast by Shipments and Value, 2014 and 2018 (Shipments in millions of units and Value in US$ Million)
|
2014* |
2014* Market Share |
2018* |
2018* Market Share |
2014-2018 CAGR |
|
| Shipment (M units) | |||||
| Android |
1,060 |
82.3% |
1,498 |
80.0% |
9.0% |
| iOS |
178 |
13.8% |
240 |
12.8% |
7.8% |
| Windows Phone |
35 |
2.7% |
105 |
5.6% |
31.4% |
| Other OS |
14 |
1.1% |
30 |
1.6% |
20.4% |
| Total |
1,288 |
100.0% |
1,873 |
100.0% |
9.8% |
| Value (US$M) | |||||
| Android |
255,102 |
66.6% |
275,248 |
60.9% |
1.9% |
| iOS |
116,540 |
30.4% |
152,626 |
33.8% |
7.0% |
| Windows Phone |
7,782 |
2.0% |
19,033 |
4.2% |
25.1% |
| Other OS |
3,480 |
0.9% |
4,862 |
1.1% |
8.7% |
| Total |
382,904 |
100.0% |
451,769 |
100.0% |
4.2% |
