Android blitzes iOS in Q2, Samsung rules...

IDC reports that Android has significantly increased its lead in smartphone OS share with a massive 68.1% of the Q2 ’12 market compared to its arch rival, Apple’s iOS, which lost share, posting a 16.9% figure for the second calendar quarter of 2012. In fact, Android was the only smartphone OS besides WinPhone to show any growth over Q1 and Android smartphones are currently outselling iPhones four to one.

That’s likely to get worse for Apple before it gets better, with sales dropping off even more in anticipation of the next greatest iPhone due to launch in the last days of September, final month of this quarter. There has been speculation that Apple will be compelled to bring its new handset to market a week or more sooner than previously expected in order to limit the perception of a disastrous third quarter, relatively speaking, but that would in turn reduce the numbers sold in the final quarter.

Regardless of how they fine tune the release of the new iPhone, it remains indisputable that sales will continue to taper off until the moment the latest handset hits the market, and they will then skyrocket as they did in the holiday quarter last year, before beginning the inevitable slide back down in anticipation of the next, next greatest thing. Apple will likely be looking at staggering phone launches in the future to rein in this boom and bust cycle, but to do that, they’ll need a new phone product that will be compelling, but that won’t cannibalize their current cash cow. Not an easy task.

Compared to the same quarter a year ago, Android has more than doubled the number of units while Apple’s devices managed a rather less impressive 25% improvement. But don’t count Apple out any time soon; the Cupertino tech gorilla didn’t get to the size that it is without picking up a trick or two along the way, and you can bet it’s not about to give up on its ‘marketing by litigation’ strategy. If you can’t compete with ‘em, sue ‘em out of the market, eh Mr Cook? You betcha…

To touch briefly on the other competitors in the market, as expected, Symbian, Bada, Rim and WinPhone all saw decreases in share with their respective offerings hardly exceeding the margin of error in IDC’s research methodology. Fingernails are doubtless being chewed in the boardrooms of the also-rans, particularly Nokia whose gamble to bet the farm on WinPhone is looking decidedly ill advised right now.

Samsung, among the Android OEMs, shone in the quarter with 44% of handsets shipped. Worldwide, Samsung now sells two smartphones to each one of Apple’s iPhones sold – the iFans don’t talk much about how well the iPhone is faring against other OEMs these days. Quelle surprise…

Source: IDC