iPhone Shipments Grew 25.6% Year Over Year, Hit New Record: IDC

IPhone models

Apple shipped a total of 192.7 million iPhones in calendar 2014, while Android surpassed the 1 billion mark, the latest data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker reveals. The two biggest smartphone operating systems controlled 96.3% of the global market for both the fourth quarter and the full year of calendar 2014, the market research firm announced.

Smartphone OS 2014

According to IDC, Apple saw the iPhone’s market share drop slightly from 15.1% (2013) to 14.8% for 2014, despite a 25.6% increase in volume. The latter was due to the strong demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and the reception they had within key markets.

“Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices – particularly for Android – drove volumes higher.

“What will bear close observation is how the two operating systems fare in 2015 and beyond,” added Llamas. “Now that Apple has entered the phablet market, there are few new opportunities for the company to address. Meanwhile, Samsung experienced flat growth in 2014, forcing Android to rely more heavily on smaller vendors to drive volumes higher.”

Smartphone OS Q4

The biggest gain — year-over-year change — was posted by Android, 32%, as vendors shipped a combined 1.05 billion units. The biggest year-over-year drop was recorded by BlackBerry: 69.8% for calendar 2014.

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