Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that gave rise to the smartphone market when it launched the first iPhone in 2007. Since then, the company has enjoyed considerable popularity because of its unique products that remain highly coveted. It is the third largest mobile phone market now. However, things don’t seem to be looking up for the Cupertino, California based firm since Google introduced its Android Operating system. This paved way for other companies to enter the market such as Samsung Electronics, which are threatening Apple’s stable position and its market share. Even the latest reports aren’t in the company’s favor.

According to the new data provided by the research firm IDC, the share of Apple Inc. in the worldwide smartphone market has declined in the second quarter of 2013 on a year-on-year basis. In comparison, there was a slight increase in the share of Android and Windows Phone. Overall, in the second quarter, a total of 236.4 million smartphones were shipped by all the smartphone vendors. This was an increase of 51.3% as compared to the same quarter in last year when a total of 156.2 million smartphones had been shipped. Also, the research firm added that in the first quarter of the year as well, there was an increase in smartphone shipments of about 9.3%.

Android is retaining the top position as it holds around 79.3% share of the OS market. A year ago, its share had been 69.1%. The OS managed to retain its lead mostly because of the brisk sales experienced by Samsung Electronics and its Galaxy S4. However, contribution was also made by Huawei, LG, ZTE and Lenovo, all of which saw an increase in their shipment volumes. The second position in the market was taken by Apple’s iOS that holds about 13.2% market share. However, this is a decrease because in the second quarter of last year, the iOS lead was around 16.6% of the total market.

IDC noted that it wasn’t that big of a surprise to discover that Apple’s iOS has declined because the company hasn’t introduced a new iPhone in a while. A research manager at IDC, Ramon Llamas said that the iPhone 5 made its debut a year ago and the company hasn’t launched a new product ever since. However, he also added that the company is well-positioned to capture the market again because of a revamped iOS and new iPhone coming this year.

The third position in the market was usurped by the Windows Phone, which has actually managed to post the largest shipment increase on a year-on-year basis amongst the top five smartphone platforms. The quarter was finished by the Windows Phone with a 3.7% of the smartphone OS market. In contrast, its share had been about 3.1% last year, but thanks to the Nokia Lumia devices the platform was able to boost its share. Last quarter, Windows Phone surpassed the shipments of BlackBerry and the trend seems to be continuing in the second quarter as well. Nokia remains the driving force behind this success.

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