Apple’s iOS lost marketshare to Google’s Android platform in Q1 of 2013, according to a report released today by IDC. The report also shows Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform overtaking BlackBerry for third place.
The latest market data released on Thursday by IDC shows that Apple’s iOS accounted for 17.3 percent of smartphones shipped in the first quarter of the year, down from 23 percent a year ago. Still, Apple saw its strongest first quarter ever in terms of shipment volumes, as the company already announced last month it shipped a record 37.4 million iPhones.
The iOS platform, found only on one brand of smartphone, the iPhone, couldn’t keep pace with Google’s Android, available on a plethora of devices, available from a multitude of manufacturers.
Apple and Google combined to take 92% of the smartphone market, leaving competitors to pick up the scraps.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform grew from 3 million in Q1 2012 to 7 million in the same period this year. That was good for third place, the first time the operating system has ranked that high.
The Redmond firm’s gains were at the expense of BlackBerry, as the Canadian smartphone company saw it’s share fall in the quarter, shipping just 6.3 million BlackBerry devices.
