Android continues, without a doubt, to lead the world of mobile operating systems in terms of the number of users. This is mainly because the operating system can run on a wide variety of devices from different brands. Nevertheless, iOS has managed to cut its market share by a large percentage in recent years.
According to StockApps data, Android has lost 8% of market share in the last 5 years and much of this loss is due to an increase in the use by users of Apple's operating system, iOS. In July 2019, Android dominated the mobile environment with a 77,32% market share. However, in the last 5 years, this percentage has fallen drastically to 69,74%. At the same time, iOS has increased its global market share from 19,4% to 25,49%, which represents an increase of 6%.
While the exact reasons for this market trend are not entirely clear, Apple has put all its efforts into expanding its product line to reach more types of audience. Devices such as the iPhone SE or the iPad from the outset have encouraged a greater public to acquire iOS devices at a reduced price.
According to finance expert Edith Reads, Android still has an advantage due to its open source nature vs iOS. As we already know, iOS is only available on Apple devices, but there are thousands of different devices (tablets, smartphones…) running Android today. Another reason is the possibility of finding much cheaper devices outside the Apple ecosystem.
The StockApps report indicates that in regions such as South America or Africa, Android overwhelmingly dominates the market as Apple devices are much more expensive than their competitors in these regions. In South America, only 10% of the devices are iOS while in North America, Apple takes up to a 50% share.
Despite all this, the Cupertino strategy of introducing cheaper devices is working quite well and we do not rule out that the strategy itself will continue to grow in number and type of devices in the coming months.