“Samsung is still Android’s leading licensee, but it made its biggest gains in 2010 and 2011,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“Since then its market share has flattened out at around 40%,” P.E.D. reports. “Taking over as the major engine of worldwide smartphone growth is ‘Others.'”
“These are the so-called white box manufacturers — second tier, no-name phone makers that license Android from Google’s because it’s the cheapest way for them to get into the game,” P.E.D. reports. “‘Most of these companies, located in China, have entered the market with low-end, cheaply produced Android phones that are not much more expensive than feature phones,’ writes Needham analyst Charlie Wolf. ‘Indeed, most buyers of these phones use them as feature phones.'”
Read more in the full article here.
