Everyone knows that Android has been experiencing some huge growth as of late, and research firm Gartner has the hard numbers to prove it. Gartner released a report today covering worldwide phone sales broken up by manufacturer and by OS. When it comes to manufacturer, the most notable piece of info is that Apple, in seventh place, has surpassed HTC and is on the heels of Motorola, as well. Gartner points out that Apple would have been even higher on the list if it hadn't experienced strained inventories with the release of the iPhone 4 in Q2. They went on to say that they expect the iPhone 4's international roll out to sustain Apple's sales numbers through the remainder of the year.
When it comes to smartphone OSes, Gartner's data shows that Android has had a tremendous surge in popularity lately. Google's OS moved into third place in the smartphone race in Q2 2010 with 17.2 percent marketshare, up from 1.8 percent in Q2 2009. Android is also right behind BlackBerry, which is sitting at 18.2 percent marketshare. Right behind Android is Apple's iOS, claiming 14.2 percent of the market. All of these platforms pale in comparison to Symbian's share, though, which is 41.2 percent.
Considering Apple is only selling two iPhone 4 models around the world (as well the 3GS in some places), I'd say that being the seventh best selling phone manufacturer in the world is an achievement. As the iPhone 4 continues to launch in various countries throughout the world, their position is only going to go up. The growth that Android is experiencing is great, too, and kind of unsurprising. More and more advanced Android devices are launching on more and more carriers, which means Google's green robot will continue to climb the marketshare charts and put the hurt on iOS, RIM, and Symbian.
