If you are new to mobile operating systems, here is a brief explainer. Android OS is the mobile operating system developed by Google and used in smartphones made by Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Nokia, OPPO, TECNO, Infinix, itel, Huawei, Sony, Alcatel, BLU, TCL, Vivo, Nothing, and Google. iOS is the mobile operating system developed by Apple and used in iPhones, iPods, and iPads. In this article, we look at which platform is dominant in each of the six inhabited continents of the world – Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Android vs iPhone in Europe
On the old continent, Android OS has a market share of 70%, while 30% of all the smartphones on sale are powered by iOS. Europeans love their Android smartphones.
Android vs iPhone in North America
iOS has a slight lead on the North American continent, where it has 55% of the market, while Android has 45%. The United States and Canada are two markets that are very different from most smartphone markets around the world.
Android vs iPhone in South America
Take a flight down to South America and the picture changes drastically and is a huge contrast to what obtains in the north of the continent. Holding only 10% of the market, iOS is grossly outgunned. Android rules there, with a 90% market share.
Android vs iPhone in Asia
In Asia, Android OS also rules, with 82% of the market. iOS clocks in at 18% of the market.
Android vs iPhone in Africa
On the continent of Africa, Android rules, with 84% of the market, leaving iOS with 16%.
Android vs iPhone in Oceania
The continent of Oceania includes Australia, New Zealand, and about 12 other countries in the Pacific Ocean. Here, iOS is in a good position with 55% marketshare, while Android has 45%.
In Summary
Africa, South America, and Asia are alike, as far as smartphone platform market share is concerned. Android rules supremely in those regions and iOS is a marginal platform. Europe is Android territory as well, just not as invested as the earlier three continents. It is in North America and Oceania that have a strong iOS foothold – strong enough to have a little over 50% of the market share in those regions. While iOS wins in those regions, it isn’t by any large margins – barely a 10% lead in each. Personally, I am sad that competing platforms like Windows Phone/Mobile and BlackBerry OS had to die and become history. Both were quite good alternatives to this two-horse race that we have today. I also used Ubuntu Mobile and PalmOS, and wish both had taken off and ramped up users. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be so. KaiOS is a mobile operating platform with promise, but it powers smart feature phones, not smartphones. And so it is that the only options we have for smartphones today are iOS and Android OS. On the whole, Android is the dominant mobile operating system on the planet. And that is understandable, considering that every other smartphone maker apart from Apple makes Android phones. As a matter of fact, that Apple’s iOS even holds its own as much as it does is the stuff of legends.
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