iOS gains ground in recent years, Android still dominates the global market

According to research done by StockApps, Apple's iOS has been gaining ground for the last four years and has eaten a good chunk of Android's global OS market share. However, Google's OS still dominates the market.

In 2018, Android had a 77.32% market share while this year, it is estimated that about 69.74% of all devices in the world run Android. That's almost an 8% drop in four years. In contrast, iOS has grown from 19.4% to 25.49% throughout the same period.

There could be many reasons behind this but the most obvious one is that Apple has expanded its smartphone and tablet lineup significantly. The company has been releasing four flagship iPhones in the last couple of years instead of two and has been updating its iPhone SE family. Providing more choice to customers and at lower prices surely has its effect.

Nevertheless, Apple will have a hard time dethroning Android for one simple reason - the open-source nature of Android. Only Apple devices are sold with iOS while Android can be implemented on various devices, not just smartphones and tablets. Also, despite Apple's efforts of expanding its portfolio of iOS devices, Android still has variety on its side, with smartphones ranging from $100 to $1,000+.

Then there's Android's domination in markets where iPhones are a lot more expensive than their rivals. South America and Africa are just two examples as the former market has just 10% iOS adoption. In contrast, in North America Apple is enjoying more than half of the market share.

Source