Android achieves record 87.5 percent of global smartphone shipments in Q3 2016

A report from research company Strategy Analytics claims that Android has reached a record high 87.5 percent of global smartphone shipments as of Q3 2016. There were 375 million smartphones shipped in the third quarter, a 6% increase on the same quarter last year, with Android units increasing 10.3% year-on-year, states the report.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said: “Android’s gain came at the expense of every major rival platform. Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent share worldwide in Q3 2016, due to a lackluster performance in China and Africa.”

Check out the details in the chart below:

Though overall smartphone shipments increased, Apple’s iOS units were down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Phone shipments for other platforms, including Windows and BlackBerry, decreased 84.1% year-on-year.

Contrastingly, preliminary results from research company IDC suggests only a 1% increase in global smartphone shipments compared to the same period in 2015. The two firms are, however, almost in agreement on Apple’s Q3 2015 to Q3 2016 drop in shipments (stating -5.2% and -5.3%).

This kind of independent data is never completely accurate but the trend suggests Android’s market share is up several percent and iOS’ is down several percent, while total smartphone shipments increased. Things could be worse for Google’s platform.