Android Now Makes Up 50% Of Global Smartphone Market

Can it be? Android, of all smartphone systems currently holds 48% of the smartphone market in the second quarter of 2011. This reaches an all-time high for the company, according to a report released by market research firm Canalys.

Android has been making big gains during the past years, they’ve been gaining so fast that they over took Symbian in the fourth quarter of 2010 to become the biggest smartphone platform ever. Back in 2010 they only held 32.9% of the market and have since gained 15.5% in less than a year.

Adoption of smartphones has grown tremendously worldwide, totaling 107.7 million devices shipping in the second quarter of 2011. This number keeps growing on a 73% annual growth.

You might be thinking that iPhone is leading this market, but they’re not. Apple has a relatively small market over all smartphones. Android was the biggest this past quarter in shipments. Android’s numbers grew at a staggering 379% annual growth, they beat everyone else out with 51.9 million devices shipped. Android is a big market because they aren’t constrained to one device like iPhone, they have vendors who load their operating system on their device. Android’s vendors include everyone, Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony, ZTE and Huawei.

The reports also name iOS taking over Nokia’s Symbian platform from third place to second. There were 20.3 million iPhones shipped and that number ranks Apple at a market share of 19%, nowhere near the first place competitor. Apple also over took Nokia as the leading individual smartphone vendor.

In the mean time, Samsung passed Nokia, the company has been having hard times and are on a steep down hill coaster. Nokia hasn’t changed from previously and still holds a strong number in the market, including the emerging markets of Russia, Brazil, India and China.