PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Nearly eight out of 10 smartphones shipped globally in 2013 were running Google's Android operating system, an independent analysis published Thursday said.
Shipments of handsets for more than 50 countries showed an 11 percent boost in Android's dominance from 2012, technology trends watcher Canalys said.
Almost 1 billion handsets shipped last year 2013, Canalys said in its report, a 44 percent increase from 2012. Android was the platform running on 79 percent (785 million) of the devices shipped in 2013, up from 68 percent in 2012, it said.
Apple's iOS share fell from 20 percent to 15 percent, despite shipments increasing to 154 million, while Microsoft saw a percentage point share rise for Windows phones, to 3 percent as shipments increased in 2013 to 32.1 million, the Canalys report said.
Windows Phone's 69 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2013 over the same quarter in 2012 made it the fastest growing platform, the report said.
