Report: Google Android under pressure by iPhone, with sales dropping

The Google Android mobile OS is under pressure by the Apple iPhone, with sales dropping as competition heats up.

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Google Android smartphone shipments dropped quarter-on-quarter for the first time during Q4 2014, as Apple iOS shipments increased a whopping 90 percent. iPhone shipments rose from 39.3 million up to 74.5 million, while Android sales slid from 217 million down to 206 million, according to ABI Research.

Report: Google Android under pressure by iPhone, with sales dropping | TweakTown.com

"Google's Android is being attacked by Apple's iOS at the high-end and forked Android and AOSP at the low-end in high growth emerging markets," said Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director of Mobile Devices at ABI Research. "The Android One initiative has slowed forked Android and ASOP growth outside China, but Apple's success has taken the high-end of the market away from certified Android's premium tier vendors."

Android-powered devices still topped 1 billion throughout 2014 - but a strong sales quarter from Apple shows that it still has plenty of fight left while promoting new iPhones.

Besides Android and iOS, consumers still don't have many other options - but phones running Microsoft Windows Phone increased 19 percent during Q4 - and the release of Windows 10 later this year has sparked some interest among smartphone users.

An experienced tech journalist and marketing specialist, Michael joins TweakTown to cover everything from cars & electric vehicles to solar and green energy topics. A former Staff Writer at DailyTech, Michael is now the Cars & Electric Vehicles News Reporter and will contribute news stories on a daily basis. In addition to contributing here, Michael also runs his own tech blog, AlamedaTech.com, while he looks to remain busy in the tech world.

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