There was a time when having a BlackBerry represented the height of sophistication. Then along came the Apple iPhone in 2007 and the launch of Android in 2008 – and everything changed in the world of mobile devices.

Today Android is the clear leader in smartphones and tablets globally. According to the IDC, Android has 78% of the market share (with Samsung making up the bulk of the Android market), iOS 18.03%, Windows Phone 2.7% and BlackBerry 0.3%.

While Android is clearly the dominant operating system, sales of Samsung handsets are down year-on-year by 8%. However, other leading Android operators including Huawei, LG and ZTE have seen up to 28% year-on-year growth.

Although BlackBerry is still very popular in South Africa, the numbers are small internationally. That said, the BlackBerry Classic has done very well – shipping triple the amount this quarter compared to the last quarter of 2014 when it launched.

At Vodacom Android is still on top. Android devices on the Vodacom network have almost doubled since September 2014 and now make up over 60% of the devices on the network. BlackBerry is in second place, iOS comes in third followed by Windows.