About two-thirds of smartphones shipped globally in the second quarter ran on Google Inc.'s Android platform, data showed Friday, further cementing its dominance over other operating systems (OS).
Shipments of Android-powered smartphones totaled a record 183 million units in the April-June period, according to the data by Strategy Analytics.
That translates into the Android platform powering 79.5 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 in part attributed to the hefty sales of Galaxy S smartphones manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. and Optimus smartphones made by LG Electronics Inc.
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker, shipped a record 76 million smartphones in the second quarter, compared with 69.4 million in the previous quarter.
LG Electronics sold a total of 12.1 million smartphones in the second quarter, rising from 10.3 million units the previous quarter, maintaining its status as the world's third largest smartphone vendor, earlier data showed.
Also, smartphones sold in North America and Western Europe mostly run on the Android OS, and Chinese smartphone makers such as ZTE also employ Google's platform, which helped boost Android's market share, according to market watchers.
Apple Inc.'s iOS came second with a 13.6 percent market share with a shipment of 31.2 million units. Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone OS followed with a 3.9 percent market share and a shipment of 8.9 million units, the data showed.
"Competitive licensing costs, numerous hardware partners and a large apps store continue to be among the main drivers of Android's success. Apple iOS reached 14 percent global smartphone share in the quarter, its lowest level since Q2 2010," the research firm said. (Yonhap News)
