14 DAY TRIAL // The number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, reportedly combined make up 91.1% of all smartphone shipments during the end of 2012.
According to The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the fourth quarter of 2012 saw Android smartphone vendors and Apple ship a total of 207.6 million units worldwide.
This was a 70.2% spike from the 122.0 million units shipped during the year-ago quarter, reports IDC.
iOS and Android accounted for 87.6% of the 722.4 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2012, a 68.1% increase from 2011.
According to Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team, “demand for Apple's iPhone 5 kept iOS out in front and in the hands of many smartphone users.”
“At the same time, lower prices on the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S brought iOS within reach of more users and sustained volume success of older models. Even with the Apple Maps debacle, iPhone owners were not deterred from purchasing new iPhones,” said Llamas.
In other words, Apple is doing just fine with no “cheap” iPhones in its portfolio.