iOS, Android devices account for 98% of the market

PanARMENIAN.Net - Apple and Google are showing no signs of loosening their stranglehold on smartphones, as new figures suggest iOS and Android devices account for 98% of the market, Digital Spy reports.

Research by Gartner indicates that both operating systems have reached an all-time high, with 298,797,000 Android handsets selling during the third quarter of 2015.

There were also 46,062,000 iPhones shifted during the same three-month period, which is bad news for the likes of BlackBerry and Microsoft, who are struggling to compete.

Microsoft sold 5,874,000 Windows Phone devices in the period in question, but its market share dipped from 3% to just 1.7% year on year.

Only 977,000 phones running a BlackBerry OS were sold in the quarter, which is why the Canadian firm has turned to Android for its latest smartphone, the slider keyboard-packing Priv.

Microsoft is pinning its hopes on Windows 10 and its universal apps, with the cross-platform operating system set to roll out to mobile devices in the coming weeks.

Gartner's figures also highlight the meteoric rise of Huawei, which is well on the way to becoming a major player in smartphones. The Chinese firm shipped 27,262,300 phones during the quarter, compared to 15,935,000 the previous year.