Google's Android OS Reaps 88 Percent In Global Market Share, Apple Dips to 12 Percent; Google Pixel Hurting Android Partners?

After dipping 12 percent in global shares due to a "lackluster" performance in China and Africa, the Apple iOS bowed to Google's OS. The Android platform reaped a record 88 percent in the global Smartphone Operating System market share for Quarter 3 this year.

According to The Financial Express, the Google-created system took a huge bite in the Smartphone share all over the world with an impressive 87.5 percent. In the same quarter last year, Android reached 84.1 percent in market share. This alone is enough to acknowledge Android as the prime contributor to the upsurge in Smartphone shipments that amassed 6 percent in growth, or 375.4 million units sold worldwide.

On the other hand, the Apple iOS slipped to 12.1 percent in Q3 this year. This unfortunate performance was only made worse considering that its data last year was, in fact, higher at 13.6 percent. Other Operating System like Samsung's Tizen, BlackBerry's OS and the defunct Windows garnered a group effort of 0.3 percent in OS market share.

Strategy Analytics' latest release also depicted that Android ruled all global Smartphone shipments with 328.6 million units. Accompanying this is a 10.3 percent Year Over Year (YoY) growth. The iOS only accounted for a meager 45.5 million units and a disappointing -5.2 percent YoY growth. The rest of the field alloted 1.3 million devices and a -84.1 percent YoY growth. On a lighter side,

Strategy Analytics Director Linda Sui said that this was the industry's "fastest growth for a year." She then pointed to regrowth in emerging markets as a primary reason, alongside Smartphone penetration in countries like the Middle East, South Africa and India.

Executive Director Neil Mawston, who took his hat off to Android, added that the OS' "domination remained strong" this quarter, while Director Woody Oh claimed that Android looks "unassailable at the moment." Its rise is mainly due to its user-friendliness and affordability, and these make Android appealing and "attractive" to operators and consumers around the globe.

However, Oh foresees a challenge for Google. He said that the Android system is "getting overcrowded" due to the influx of manufacturers while only a handful of vendors are gaining revenues. Google's latest flagship, the Pixel will also pose as a boulder since it "is attacking its own hardware partners that made Android popular in the first place."