Smartphones running Google's Android are dominating the market, according to the latest figures.
Gartner's numbers show that during the first quarter of 2013 Android smartphones accounted for 74.4 percent of global sales. This represents more than 156 million devices and a jump of nearly 20 percent in market share year-on-year. See also: Android takes top spot in tablet market from iPad.
Apple lost some of its market share compared to the same time past year, dropping to 18.2- from 22.5 percent. The firm sold just over 38 million iPhones during the first quarter of the year.
"Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 210 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 42.9 percent from the first quarter of 2012" said Gartner.
Like Apple, BlackBerry lost market share dropping from 6.8- to just 3 percent as it continues to struggle against its rivals. It shipped 6.2 million devices in the first quarter compared to nearly 10 million in the same quarter last year.
Microsoft, on the other hand, was the only operating system to gain market share other than Android. Windows Phones made a small growth from 1.9- to 2.9 percent, shipping 5.9 million units in the first quarter.
It's unsurprising that Android has a dominant position since so many manufacturers make smartphones running the OS. Samsung remains the top vendor for smartphone and feature phones, regardless of platform with Nokia and Apple in second and third respectively.
LG took fourth spot from ZTE after the Chinese vendor showed weak performance. LG benefitted from high demand of the Nexus 4 which it built for Google.
