Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone operating system market declined year-over-year in the second quarter of 2013, while Android and Windows Phone saw "slight increases," according to new data from IDC.
Overall, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 236.4 million smartphones in the second quarter, up 51.3 percent from the 156.2 million units shipped during the same period last year, the research firm said. Smartphone shipments also grew 9.3 percent over the first quarter of this year.
Android came out on top, grabbing an impressive 79.3 percent of the smartphone OS market, up from 69.1 percent a year ago. Android maintained its lead thanks in large part to brisk sales for Samsung and its flagship Galaxy S4, but also gains made by LG, Huawei, Lenovo, and ZTE, each of which saw double-digit unit shipment volumes in the millions.
Apple's iOS took second with 13.2 percent of the market, down from a 16.6 percent share in the second quarter of 2012. Of course, it's not shocking that iOS declined during the period, given that Apple hasn't released a new iPhone in a while, IDC noted.
"Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple's market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition. But with a new iPhone and revamped iOS coming out later this year, Apple is well-positioned to re-capture market share," Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's mobile phone team, said in a statement.
Windows Phone came in third, posting the largest year-over-year unit shipment increase among the top five smartphone platforms, according to IDC. The platform finished the quarter with a 3.7 percent share of the smartphone OS market, up from 3.1 percent last year, with much of that growth coming from Nokia's Lumia devices.
"Last quarter we witnessed Windows Phone shipments surpassing BlackBerry and the trend has continued into the second quarter. Nokia has clearly been the driving force behind the Windows Phone platform and we expect that to continue," said Ryan Reith, program manager with IDC's Mobility Tracker Programs.
BlackBerry and Linux rounded out the top five, grabbing 2.9 percent and 0.8 percent of the market, respectively. For more, check out the chart below.
