When it comes to the smartphone market, Microsoft and BlackBerry have more catching up to do than ever before.

Android and iOS now account for a record amount of the worldwide smartphone market share, according to a new report.

SEE ALSO: Report: Xiaomi surpasses Samsung to become China’s top smartphone seller

Together, Android and iOS made up 96.3% of all smartphone shipments in 2014, according tonew numbers from research firm IDC.

Globally, Android is still on top with 81.5% of the world’s smartphone market, followed by iOS with 14.8%. Windows Phone and BlackBerry trail at a very distant third and fourth claiming 2.7% and 0.4% of the global market share, respectively.

phones2





While the continued dominance of iOS and Android is unsurprising, researchers said they would be watching Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Samsung’s Tizen platforms in the coming year, noting that these companies could still win back some of the global market by continuing to target emerging markets like India and Brazil.

“Instead of a battle for the third ecosystem after Android and iOS, 2014 instead yielded skirmishes, with Windows Phone edging out BlackBerry, Firefox, Sailfish and the rest, but without any of these platforms making the kind of gains needed to challenge the top two,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager at IDC.

“This isn’t to say that vendors aren’t making moves, especially for the growth segments — the low-end markets,” she said. “With Microsoft bringing ever-cheaper Lumia into play and Tizen finally getting launched to India early this year, there is still a hunger to chip away at Android’s dominance.”

BlackBerry, still waiting for its comeback, fared the worst by far, with an overall decline of 69.8% in 2014. But IDC notes even the embattled Canadian company still has a chance at positive growth in 2015, should CEO John Chen’s optimistic estimates pan out.

source: http://gblweb.com/2015/02/26/ios-and-android-closer-than-ever-to-total-domination/