Android loses global market share over the past five years, while iOS gains

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS dominate the smartphone operating system (OS) space. Today 7 out of 10 phones run on the Android OS, while two of the remaining three are most likely to be iOS powered. 

However, StockApps reports that Android’s dominance is coming under increasing pressure from the other players according to market data.

StockApps.com has provided data showing Android’s global dominance of the operating system (OS) space has been ebbing gradually. Its worldwide market share in January 2022 stood at 69.74%. In contrast, the OS commanded a market share of 77.32%, its highest ever, in July 2018. This means it’s ceded 7.58% of its holding in the last five years.

“Android’s loss of market share boils down to heightened competition within the OS space,” says StockApps.com’s finance expert Edith Reads. “A look at the data shows that  iOS gained 6% between July 2018 and January 2022. From 19.4% then, Apple has grown its OS market share to 25.49%. Other small scale OS developers account for the remaining 1.58% that Google shed.”

That said, she doesn’t think that Android’s command is under threat. Reads says Android’s “open-source nature and affordability have endeared it to the masses across the globe.” She adds that Google “has built an unassailable gap and that it’ll take something extraordinary for Apple and the rest to overturn it.”