One third of all mobile phones shipped in Q4 2012 were smartphones running the Android operating system, according to the latest stats from analysis firm, Canalys.
Fifty percent of the total number of phones shipped in Q4 were smartphones, reflecting a 37% growth, year on year.
Of the total number of smartphones shipped, over two thirds were Android devices, with Samsung by far and away the leading manufacturer of Android phones, seeing a massive 78% growth in shipments year on year, thanks in the main the phenomenally successful Samsung Galaxy S3.
Apple saw a growth in their share of the smartphone market, growing from fifteen to twenty two percent, on the back of successful sales of the iPhone 5, however both BlackBerry and Windows Phone failed to grow their market presence, with both remaining on 4% and 2% respectively.
Third place in the smartphone market went to Huawei, and ZTE took fourth, but both with less than 5%. The outlook for Sony and HTC remains pretty bleak, as neither managed to break into the top 5. Fifth place for Q4 2012 went instead to Lenovo.
Principal Analyst at Canalys, Pete Cunningham, said: “When we look at the whole of 2012, Nokia remained the number three smartphone vendor, shipping 35 million units, but Apple in second place for 2012 shipped 101 million more handsets. First placed Samsung shipped a further 74 million more than Apple, the gaps are colossal. Vendors left in the wake of the top vendors must at the very least improve their portfolios, time to market and marketing, as well as communicate their differentiators. Microsoft, BlackBerry and other new OS entrants, such as Mozilla, must make the OS switch as simple as possible and drive and localise their respective app and content ecosystems.”