Quarterly global Android smartphone shipments surpassed the 100 million mark for the first time, research firm Canalys reported Thursday.
Out of the 158.3 million smartphones shipped worldwide in Q2 2012, an astounding 107.8 million were Android based smartphones. In other words, two out of three, or 68.1% of all smartphones were powered by Google's operating system. As expected, iOS took the second sport with 26 million iPhones shipped, forming 16.4% of the market.
BlackBerry OS was the third with 8.5 million smartphones shipped, while Symbian and Windows Phones were at fourth and fifth spot with 6.4 million and 5.1 million shipments respectively.
"Growth in Android volumes of 110% far outpaced growth in the overall market of 47% year-on-year, heavily driven by Samsung, which saw Android volumes of over 45 million, contributed to by a full and broad portfolio of products, from its high-end flagship Galaxy S III down to its aggressively priced Galaxy Y and Galaxy Mini," said Pete Cunningham, Canalys Principal Analyst.
Samsung retained its top position in the global smart phone market with a 31% share, followed by Apple and Nokia once again. Huawei and ZTE were unable to push in on the global top five with shipments of their own branded devices. HTC moved up to fourth place, though, just ahead of RIM, which shipped 8.5 million units in the calendar quarter.
Samsung is expected to continue its domination in the next quarter, with Cunningham adding, "Its sponsorship of the London Olympics and subsequent product placements are sure to attract new customers to ensure that Q3 delivers a strong performance".