Android and iOS accounted for 93.8 per cent of smartphone shipments in 2013

Android and iOS strengthened their duopoly of smartphone shipments in 2013, increasing their joint market share from 87.7 per cent to 93.8 per cent year-on-year, according to new figures from IDC.

The figures also show that joint shipments for Q4 2013 accounted for 95.7 per cent of the market.

Android remains the clear market leader, with a share of 78.6 per cent in 2013, an increase of 58.7 per cent year-on-year. Samsung continues to spearhead Android's dominance, accounting for 39.5 per cent of its shipments.

iOS, meanwhile, underperformed the market, growing at a rate of 12.9 per cent in 2013. IDC suggests that the lack of a low-cost or large screen iPhone has contributed to the stagnation in growth of Apple's mobile operating system.

iOS still accounted for 15.2 per cent of smartphone shipments for the year, however.

Warm reception

"Clearly, there was strong end-user demand for both Android and iOS products during the quarter and the year," said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team.

"What stands out are the different routes Android and Apple took to meet this demand. Android relied on its long list of OEM partners, a broad and deep collection of devices, and price points that appealed to nearly every market segment."

Llamas continued: "Apple's iOS, on the other hand, relied on nearly the opposite approach: a limited selection of Apple-only devices, whose prices trended higher than most. Despite these differences, both platforms found a warm reception to their respective user experiences and selection of mobile applications."

Elsewhere, Windows Phone showed the largest increase in shipments for the year of any mobile operating system at 90.9 per cent from 2012, accounting for a 3.3 per cent share of the market, while Blackberry showed the only negative year-on-year change of the major players, dropping 40.9 per cent from 2012.

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