Apple keeps ahead of Android as global smartphone sales surge in Q1

Apple has maintained its lead over Google’s Android in the global smartphone operating system market, according to new first-quarter data from Gartner. The data will be a boost to Apple after a separate study earlier this month found that Android has overtaken Apple in North America. In today’s study, Android and Apple were the only two OS vendors among the top five to increase market share year-on-year, Android’s share rising from 1.6 percent a year ago to 9.6 percent and Apple’s iPhone OS rising from 10.5 percent to 15.4 percent. Android moved to the number four position, displacing Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform for the first time. Symbian remained in first position but continued to lose share as its main backer – Nokia – continued to struggle in the high-end devices market. According to Gartner, smartphones accounted for 17.3 percent of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6 percent in the same period in 2009.

The study found that total mobile sales to end users totalled 314.7 million units in the first quarter, a 17 percent increase from the same period in 2009. Smartphone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units, an increase of 48.7 percent. “In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice-president at Gartner. “This quarter saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android’s momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 percent year-on-year.”

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by OS (Thousands of Units)
Source: Gartner May 2010