Market share of Android-powered smartphones hits record in Q1: data

About two-thirds of smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter ran on Google Inc.'s Android platform, data showed Tuesday, further cementing its dominance over other operating systems (OS).

Shipments of Android-powered smartphones totaled a record 161 million units in the January-March period, according to the data by Strategy Analytics.

That translates into the Android platform powering 75.2 percent of smartphones shipped during the cited period, also a record high, the data showed.

The surge in the presence of Android-powered smartphones was attributed to the hefty sales of Galax S smartphones manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. and Optimus smartphones made by LG Electronics Inc.

Samsung ranked first in terms of smartphone shipment in the first quarter by selling 69.4 million and LG Electronics came in third with a shipment of 10.3 million, separate data showed.

Also, smartphones sold in North America and Western Europe mostly use the Android OS, and Chinese smartphone makers such as ZTE also employ Google's OS, which helped boost Android's market share, according to market watchers.

Apple Inc.'s iOS came second with a 17.5 percent market share with a shipment of 37.4 million units. Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS and Microsoft Corp.'s Window Phone OS saw their market share stand at 3.5 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, in the first quarter, the data showed. (Yonhap News)