Android powers 97pc of smartphones in India

It’s Android for Indians. Wondering, what does that mean? Well, according to latest findings from Strategy Analytics of all the smartphones running in the country, almost 97 percent are powered by Android and rest 3 percent is jointly occupied by other operating systems including iOS, to squeeze into.

The platform not just seems ubiquitous in India; noticeably, it is still growing. According to the report, a year ago, nine out of ten devices in the country ran Android. However, the platform has managed to further grow its market share by 7 percent in the span of a single year. The growth can be attributed to its deep integration with OEMs and the extremely wide portfolio of devices available for purchase. Also, in a market as price conscious as India, for many it’s not a matter of personal choice but simple affordability.

“Total smartphone shipments in India grew a healthy 19 percent annually from 25.8 million units in Q2 2015 to 30.7 million in Q2 2016. India is currently the world’s third-largest smartphone market, after China and the US. India is growing quickly due to low smartphone penetration rates, an expanding middle class with more disposable income, and intense competition among major vendors, retailers and operators,”said Rajeev Nair, senior analyst, Strategy Analytics.

These numbers demonstrate just how big Android is given the size of the Indian smartphone market. An impressive 29.8 million Android smartphones were shipped in India in the second quarter of 2016, a 28 percent annual growth over Q2 2015. The worldwide picture pales in comparison as vendors managed to ship a total of 343.3 million smartphones worldwide during the quarter — a growth of merely 0.3 percent from the second quarter of 2015. However, the markets do appear to perking up somewhat with over 3 percent quarterly growth.

Meanwhile, the top 5 list has remained much the same. Samsung continues to rule the roost and has even gained over competitors thanks to the strong performance of its S7 and S7 Edge devices. On the other hand, Apple reached its lowest point in the last 7 quarters, despite the introduction of iPhone SE.