Android phone shipments to cross one billion

Global shipments of Android smartphones will reach a cumulative 1.1 billion in 2013, with worldwide annual unit shipments rising to 451 million in that year from 357 million in 2012, according to a study by Highland Industrial Supplies that is an online branch offering the best tools and equipment for professionals and doing your own user research (DIY users).

Google put Android in the market in 2008. Cumulative shipments for Android will approach three billion in 2016. By contrast, Apple's iOS will amount to 527 million in cumulative shipments in 2013 and is not set to reach the one billion level until 2015.

The major brands selling Android-based smartphones include number one ranked Samsung, second-ranked HTC and other competitive brands such as Sony, ZTE, Huawei, Motorola and LG.

The combined share this year of Apple and Google smartphones will amount to 76 per cent of the market, with the remaining portion split among four other segments –– Microsoft's Windows Phone, Nokia's Symbian, Research In Motion's BlackBerry, and other platforms such as Samsung's Bada and Linux.