In the fourth quarter of 2021 Apple took the top spot in smartphone shipments worldwide, accounting for 22 percent of the market share that quarter. Apple was followed by Samsung, with 18.9 percent of the market share.

Smartphones running the Android operating system hold an 87 percent share of the global market in 2019 and this is expected to increase over the forthcoming years. The mobile operating system developed by Apple (iOS) has a 13 percent share of the market.

How Android became the market leader Android’s global success can in many ways be attributed to its open-source software that can be installed on all smartphone devices for free. Developed by Google, the open code provides manufacturers the freedom to choose which apps are pre-installed on their devices, and they can customize layouts to create unique experiences for users. The first commercial version of the Android software was released in 2008 and its rise to market leader was almost instant. The platform held a four percent share of the global operating systems’ market in 2009, but this figure increased by around 20 percent each year for the next three years.

The global smartphone market Annual sales of smartphones have increased to around 1.56 billion units worldwide. They are now available to everyone and not just those with wealth. The cost of buying a smartphone has continued to fall each year, with the global average price now being around 215 U.S. dollars. Fierce competition within the smartphone market could be one reason why prices are falling. Samsung (South Korea) and Apple (U.S.) have historically held large shares of global smartphone production, but Chinese brands Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are now offering alternative devices that are proving popular worldwide.

Samsung held a 20 percent share of the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2024. Apple followed closely behind, with an overall share of 17 percent.

The changing face of the smartphone market

The make-up of the smartphone market has changed significantly since 2009. Nokia used to lead the industry with almost 50 percent of the smartphone market share in 2007, and before the arrival of the iPhone, it was hard for consumers to imagine Nokia becoming a market outsider.

Huawei's rise and fall have had a significant impact on the face of the market. Huawei consistently challenged Apple and Samsung for position at the top of the market, even leading it in the second quarter of 2020. Huawei has not appeared in the top five since the second quarter of 2021, largely as a result of trade restrictions.

RIM’s Blackberry devices stand as an example of the effect large-display touchscreen devices had on the market. Blackberry devices sold on a number of strengths, including a well-designed physical QWERTY keyboard and secure enterprise integration. The Blackberry lost its unique value as touchscreen devices improved, leading to a significant decline in revenue. RIM eventually ceased development of the Blackberry in 2016.

According to the most recent data, Apple continues to hold the top spot among vendors for 5G smartphones, holding close to one-third of the global market share in the second quarter of 2022. Samsung came second, with around 19 percent of the market share. The top three vendors combined accounted for over two-thirds of the entire market of 5G smartphones.

Vivo's market share of smartphone unit shipments worldwide reached eight percent in 2023, representing a marginal decrease from 2021, when the company accounted for nine percent of global smartphone unit shipments.

This statistic shows the global market share held by TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019 (measured from shipments). In 2019, Samsung held a share of 17.8 percent of the worldwide TV shipments.

LCD manufacturers global share - additional information

In 2019, Samsung was the market leader in the manufacture of TVs in terms of its share of global shipments. The South Korean company held approximately18 percent of worldwide shipments in 2019, almost five percent more than the share of its closest competitor, TCL Electronics. As a result of Samsung’s continued success in this market, as well as its significant share in the smartphone market, the company’s global revenue exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars three years in a roll in 2019.

Although Sony remains amongst the largest TV manufacturers, it has seen its market share more than halve from 13.7 percent in 2008 to just 4.2 percent in 2019. Yet LCD TVs remain a key segment, which is the largest sector for Sony in its consumer electronics business segment.

As of January 2025, online search engine Bing accounted for 12.23 percent of the global desktop search market, while market leader Google had a share of around 78.83 percent. Meanwhile, Yahoo's market share was 3.07 percent. Google in the global market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2023, with a market capitalization of 1,6 trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2023 with roughly 305.6 billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its’ alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users were nearly 36 percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong percentage decrease of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. In the first quarter of 2022 nearly 56 percent of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over 27 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo. Another search engine, Bing, operated by Microsoft, was the second most popular search engine in the United Kingdom after Google.

In January 2025, Google accounted for 93.82 percent of the global mobile search engine market worldwide. Yandex had 2.5 percent of the global mobile search, while, competitors like Baidu and Yahoo! accounted for less than one percent each on a global scale.

Apple’s iOS mobile operating system held around 23.2 percent of the global smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase from the previous quarter but a marginal decrease from the same quarter in the previous year. This is consistent with Apple's distribution pattern in recent years, claiming a strong share of the market during the fourth quarter of the year and shipping devices at a slower rate throughout the remainder of the year.

The statistic shows the market share of the Android operating system of smartphone sales worldwide from 2011 to 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2018, Android's market share was 84.2 percent.

Android OS - additional information

In 2003, when the smartphone market was still in its early development stages, Android. Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, with the initial intention of creating an operating system for digital cameras. Two years later, the company was acquired by Google, confirming rumors of the tech giant’s plans to enter the mobile phone market. The first Android operating system was introduced in 2007, with the goal to compete with the then-leading smartphone operating system Symbian. Android accomplished this goal by 2011, when it became the leader of the global smartphone OS market, with about 47 percent of the share, while Symbian fell to third place and was pushed out of the market by 2013.

As Symbian faded out of the market, Apple became Android’s main competitor on the mobile operating system market. However, Android has been the main player in the market since 2012, and is forecast to maintain this leadership in the coming years. In the first quarter of 2016, about 84 percent of smartphones sold to end users used Android as its operating system. Android is expected to maintain its smartphone market share of about 85 percent up to 2020, while Apple’s iOS is projected to account for 15 percent. One of the main reasons for Android’s popularity is its strong collaboration with smartphone manufacturers, such as Sony, Samsung and HTC, while the iOS is limited to operating on Apple devices.

Upon its success in the smartphone market, Android has expanded its operating system to tablets. Android had a slow start in this market, mainly due to the lack of quality applications for Android tablets. However, Android managed to overcome this issue and establish itself as the leading tablet operating system in 2012. Android is now the most used operating system for tablets worldwide, with a 67 percent share of the global market in 2015.

This statistic shows the market share held by Windows phone in the global smartphone operating systems market from the first quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2016. In the first quarter of 2012, Windows Mobile had a global smartphone OS market share of 2.0 percent. By the end of 2013, they had increased market share to 3 percent.

Windows operating system - additional information

Microsoft is one of the most longstanding tech companies in the world, and has unquestionably contributed to the advancement of communication technologies. The company was one of the first to develop mobile operating systems for handheld portable devices in the mid-1990s.

Their first mobile OS prototype, unveiled in 1996, was the Windows CE. In 2000, Microsoft launched PocketPC 2000, later renamed Windows Mobile, which became one of the most successful mobile OS of the early 2000s. However, Symbian, an operating system used by mobile phone brands, such as Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and Nokia, quickly became more popular. In 2007, Symbian was the leading smartphone operating system, with a 63 percent share of the global market, while Windows Mobile came in a distant second, with only 12 percent market share.

In 2010, Microsoft launched another mobile OS, Windows Phone, which replaced previous versions. Despite the introduction of a new model, Microsoft saw its smartphone market share constantly decline over the years, reaching one of the lowest figures to date in 2015. Symbian, a market leader until 2010, also lost space in the operating system market, while Google’s Android steadily gained market share over the years. In 2015, Android accounted for around 80 percent of the market. Forecasts are pessimistic regarding Microsoft’s performance on this market in the coming years. In 2015, Microsoft held about 1.9 percent of the smartphone market share. By 2020, the Windows Phone is projected to account for 0.4 of all smartphone shipments worldwide.

Microsoft also extended its operating system to the tablet OS market, accounting for seven percent of the market in the beginning of 2015. The operating system is forecast to gain space in the market, and increase its share to nearly 18 percent by 2019. Android is also the leading operating system in the tablet market, and is projected to hold 56 percent of the share.

This statistic shows the global market share held by RIM's BlackBerry OS for smartphones on a quarterly basis from 2007 to 2016. In the third quarter of 2016, RIM's share of the international smartphone OS market was .1 percent. In 2016, around 1.5 billion smartphones were sold worldwide. BlackBerry OS – additional information Canadian company Blackberry, formerly known as RIM, is one of the pioneers in the smartphone industry. The company started developing pager models in the 1990s, and later on ventured into the mobile phone market. The first BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry 957, was released in April 2000, and targeted enterprises. As the Blackberry operating system matured and improved in functionality, the company started to expand its smartphones devices to the consumer market. Despite the introduction of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, RIM’s global operating system market share continued to increase in the next few years. In 2009, the company held about 20 percent of the smartphone OS market share, and was the second largest smartphone operating system in the world, only behind Symbian. BlackBerry sales reached its peak in the last quarter of 2009. After this, the figures started to drop dramatically, reaching the lowest figure to date in 2016, when the company only accounted for 0.1 percent of the market share. BlackBerry’s decline can be attributed both to the growth of Google’s mobile operating system Android and the success of Apple’s iPhone. Android became a market leader in 2011 already and, as of early 2016, accounted for more than 80 percent of all smartphones sales worldwide, while Apple’s iOS took the second place, with about 15 percent of the market share. The BlackBerry OS has also struggled to compete with Android and iOS in the app market; the store has around 234,500 apps available in contrast to about two million apps both in the Google Play store and the Apple App Store.

In 2023, Samsung Electronics held a 42.2 percent share of the global dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) market based on sales revenue. Figures had slightly decreased compared to the market share of the previous year.

Microsoft’s Windows is the most widely used computer operating system in the world, accounting for 69 percent share of the desktop, tablet, and console OS market in March 2025. Apple’s macOS ranks as the next most widely used operating system, while its iOS mobile operating system, the standard installation on all iPad devices, ranks fourth. Linux OS versions serve as the primary option for users who prefer open-source software and intend to avoid the influence of major OS developers. Operating Systems Operating systems serve as the underlying platforms which connect computer hardware and software. They provide users with the graphical interface through which they issue commands and perform tasks on electronic devices. Billions of people make use of these devices and their operating systems on a regular basis, meaning that the companies that develop these widely used technologies have a great deal of influence on the daily lives of internet users around the world. Although Microsoft Windows is the clear leader in terms of desktop operating systems, the company’s mobile device operating system failed to make a successful transition into the smartphone market, where Android and iOS are essentially the only two options.

Asia continues to dominate the global chemical industry, holding a 59.6 percent market share in 2023. This represents a significant increase from 45 percent in 2010, highlighting the region's growing influence in the sector. Meanwhile, North America's share has declined from 20.9 percent to 13.4 percent over the same period, reflecting a shift in the industry's center of gravity. Global industry growth and revenue The global revenue of the chemical industry has experienced significant growth in recent years. In 2023, the chemical-pharmaceutical sector generated approximately 7.1 trillion euros in global revenue. This aligns with reports showing that the total worldwide revenue of the chemical industry, excluding pharmaceuticals, reached 5.72 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, the highest value in 15 years. Factors contributing to this growth include increasing demand for healthcare products, technological advancements, and expanding markets worldwide. Regional performance and market leaders While Asia dominates the global market, other regions also contribute significantly to the industry's revenue. In 2023, Latin America's chemical industry generated approximately 237.47 billion euros, with Brazil accounting for over one-third of the regional market. In Europe, Germany led the chemical industry with a revenue of 225.5 billion euros, followed by France at 108.5 billion euros. Nevertheless, China remains the largest single-country market, generating nearly 2.4 trillion euros in 2022, which represented about 44 percent of the global revenue.

As of August 2024, the Google Chrome browser accounted for over 65 percent of the global market for internet browsers. Apple’s Safari browser was the second most popular internet browser around the world, accounting for about 18.6 percent of market share. Apart from these two, no other browser controlled more than five percent of the overall market share. Internet use With billions of people around the world having some form of access to the technology, around half of the world’s population can be classified as internet users. In countries like Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany, a big majority of citizens access the internet on a daily basis, whether it be for work or personal entertainment. In the United States, the average adult spends hours per day online, once again showing the large importance of internet in peoples’ daily lives. Web browsers Web browsers serve as the platform through which users from across the globe access the contents of the internet. With the help of a web browser, users can access a huge variety of content including entertainment sites, social media, and online shopping retailers. In recent years, social media sites such as Facebook have become some of the most popular sites, with users determined to keep up-to-date with the digital presence of their friends, families, and favorite celebrities.

Apple is establishing a solid hold on wearable device unit shipments with nearly 20 percent in the second quarter of 2024, dominating the market. Competition With a strong presence in the health and fitness wearable market, Fitbit had been a leader in the wearable industry since early 2014, when the company held about 45 percent of the market share. In 2021, it was acquired by Google. Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, has gained market share in 2015 and now is the third biggest wearable vendor in the world, with around nine percent of the market share in the most recent quarter. Apple - market leader In 2024, Apple was the leading wearable vendor, thanks to the successful introduction of the Apple Watch to the smartwatch market. The smartwatch market is a promising segment within the wearable industry, as the global smartwatch shipments increased in the last years. Apple shipped nearly 20.5 million units in the first quarter of 2024. Yet, Apple faces tough competition from many vendors entering the market, especially from China. In the latest quarter, over 49 percent of the market share was held by many companies categorized as others.

This statistic shows the global market share held by Nokia with respect to sales of mobile phones to end users from the first quarter of 2010 to the most recent financial quarter. In the first quarter of 2010, Nokia had a global market share of 30.2 percent of the mobile device market and was the leading mobile device manufacturer worldwide. More recently the company's market share has declined.

The statistic shows the market share of Lenovo in the global smartphone market (unit shipments) from the second quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2015. In the second quarter of 2013, Lenovo's market share in the smartphone market was at 4.7 percent.

Lenovo’s smartphone market share – additional information

Lenovo’s global smartphone market share reached the highest figure to date in the first quarter of 2015, when the Chinese company accounted for 5.6 percent of all shipments in the world. The company shipped almost 19 million smartphones worldwide during that quarter. In 2015, Huawei took the lead amongst all Chinese smartphone vendors, with 106 million units shipped worldwide, and about 7.4 percent of the market share. Lenovo accounted for 5.2 percent of the global market share, shipping more 74 million units, while Xiaomi held almost five percent. Yet, these three Chinese companies’ figures are far behind the industry’s leader, Samsung. In 2015 alone, the South Korean company shipped more than 320 million units worldwide.

China is not only home of three of the top five smartphone vendors, but it is also the largest smartphone market in the world. Domestically, the competition amongst smartphone vendors is intense, but somewhat more balanced. In the first quarter of 2015, Apple was the most successful smartphone vendor in China, with nearly 15 percent of the market share, followed by Xiaomi, with almost 14 percent of the share. Huawei and Lenovo are not far behind, accounting for about 11 percent and just over eight percent respectively.

Next to the smartphone market, Lenovo has a strong presence in the PC industry, as well as in the tablet market. In 2015, Lenovo shipped more PCs than any other vendor, a total of nearly 57 million units over the course of the year.

This statistic shows big data and analytics software market share by vendor worldwide from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, Microsoft overtook Oracle to become the leader of the market with a share of 12.8 percent.