Another version of the iPhone / Android market share figures

Last month there were some interesting claims made about Android market share. NPD (a market survey and analysis company) released data claiming that Android handsets were outselling Apple’s iPhone, in the US at least. Apple were quick to rebuff the seriousness of the figures.

NPD’s report should be digested whilst also considering that they are based on a voluntary web based consumer survey, and that Android is an OS available across a wide range of diverse handsets, on many networks, some being offered in 2 for 1 deals, and others being offered for as little as 1 penny!

Conversely, it is also worth remembering that Apple’s iPhone is basically two handsets, on one carrier, at the end of their life cycles – with a highly publicised and leaked revision just around the corner.

Today, Net Applications released some statistics based on the kind of devices accessing their clients 160 million websites each month. Those figures tell a slightly different story.

If their metrics are accurate then the iPhone still maintains a large lead over Android devices, and actually gained in global market share in May. Rising some 2.5% from 30.3% to 32.8%. At the same time Android penetration went from 5.3% to 6.2%.

Analysing those figures it is clear that Android is growing faster than the iPhone. Its share growing by 17% in May, while the iPhone’s share only grew by 8.25%, whilst maintaing a larger installed user base. Those figures, although following the trend reported by NPD, do not quite show the titanic growth of Android that their report hinted at.

When you consider that new Android handsets seem to hit the market every day, and older Android handsets are available at bargain bucket prices, it doesn’t seem to me that Apple have that much to worry about.

I’ll be interested to see the same figures at the end of July.

Do you think Android’s growth is going to continue to rise, or stall after the release of the iPhone 4G / HD? Let us know your view in the comments.

[netmarketshare.com]

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