Android holds 81 percent market share in Pakistan

KARACHI: Android, the leading mobile operating system, reigned supreme among all its peers in Pakistan during the past one year as it holds the majority market share, showed a global stats tool. 

Google-owned android enjoyed 81 percent market share from April 2016 to March 2017 in the country as against iOS (4.27pc), Nokia operating system (3.76pc), Series 40 (2.43pc) and Windows (1.26pc), said StatCounter.

Mobile density is rapidly growing in the country with total number of mobile phone subscribers having crossed the 100 million mark. Official figures showed that internet-enabled devices or smartphones are set to surpass the 40-million level.   

Dublin-based web traffic analytics company found that Google-owned Android also held the biggest market share as the popular operating system across all platforms, including desktop, tablet and mobile. It topped with 57.68 percent of market share, followed by Windows (26.98pc), iOS (4.03pc), Nokia operating system (2.6pc) and Series 40 (1.68pc). 

In Desktop, Microsoft Windows, however, enjoyed 92.99 percent market share in the country. 

Android left Apple’s iOS much behind as the most used mobile operating system in the world during the year. Its global market share stood at 71.61 percent. Across all platforms too, Android held 37.93 share worldwide, close to windows.

In the last five year, Android’s global market share increased, while that of Windows decreased. 

StatCounter further said Google’s Chrome has been the most popular browser on desktop, mobile and tablet in the year to March in Pakistan. It possessed 56.91 percent market share in the country, followed by UC browser (16.78pc), Opera (7.76pc), Android (6.71pc), Firefox (3.75pc) and Safari (3.73pc).   On mobile too, Chrome got the highest 49.89 percent share in the country, followed by UC browser (23.38pc), Opera (9.85pc), Android (8.56pc), Safari (3.72pc) and Samsung Internet (2.64pc).      

Google remains the most popular search engine in Pakistan as well as internationally. It attracted more than 90 percent of the global (and Pakistani) users during the past year, leaving Bing, Yahoo, Baidu and Yandex much behind in the race. 

The stats tool showed that Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Pakistan, accounting for 98.97 percent market share, despite an availability of other internationally-recognised social interaction tools. 

California-based social media fever faces a direct competition from at least five rivals, including Twitter (0.47pc), Pinterest (0.28pc), Tumblr (0.08pc), LinkedIn (0.06pc) and Instagram (0.04pc). Globally, Facebook regaled a market share of 87.15 percent in the past one year.