Analysts forecast continued Android dominance

Android devices will continue to comprise the vast majority of new smartphones for the next five years, analyst firm IDC predicts.

Analysts expected Android's market share to peak at 61.0 percent of the 1.8 billion mobile phones shipped this year.

Apple's iOS was forecast to account for 20.5 percent of the 2012 market, BlackBerry OS for 6.0 percent, and Windows for 5.2 percent.

By 2016, Android's market share was expected to drop to 52.9 percent of the 2.3 billion smartphones shipped that year, with its share and growth "driven by Samsung sales".

IDC said the Linux-based operating system would continue to lead the market in 2016, followed by Windows mobile operating systems at 19.2 percent and iOS at 19.0 percent.

Table source: IDC

Despite a slow start for Windows Phone this year, IDC said Microsoft would just overtake Apple in 2016 due to Nokia’s strength in emerging markets.

IDC expected Apple to remain a formidable market force over the next five years, with its iOS phones and tablets.

Surprisingly, it noted that Blackberry would more or less maintain a six percent market share until 2016, despite parent company RIM’s fiscal troubles.

Analysts pinned BlackBerry adoption on "emerging markets ... where users are looking for affordable messaging devices".