Android Rising: Galaxy SIII Sells 20 Million, Ice Cream Sandwich on 21% of Devices

As the launch of the iPhone 5 draws closer, the sworn enemy of Apple is rapidly gaining speed with popular devices such as the Galaxy SIII and new software updating.

Samsung has recently showed off the current sales figures for its latest flagship smartphone, boasting that a whopping 20 million handsets have shipped in just 100 days since its launch earlier this year. The smartphone, which is set to launch in a range of new colours later in the year, has also now overtaken Apple’s iPhone 4S in terms of sales in the US.

In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy SII took 9 months to hit 20 million sales, proving how the popularity of Samsung’s flagship Android device has skyrocketed.

There’s no doubt that flagship phones such as the S3 contribute heavily towards the success of Android, and Google has also recently shared some success stories. Whilst it took a while – some might say far too long – for the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to hit all capable devices, Google reports that it’s now on 20.9% of Android products, making it 1 in 5.

The more recently released Jelly Bean – aka Android 4.1 – is also steadily rising, and is now found on 1.2% of all Android products worldwide. We expect that figure to rise faster in the coming months as phones like the Galaxy SIII and HTC One X will start to get the update to Google’s newest software.

Finally, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proudly announced at the Motorola event yesterday that the number of new Android devices being activated every day has hit 1.3 million. He also said that there are currently over 500 million Android devices being used worldwide, which is a staggering amount.

As Android becomes more popular, Apple is preparing to hit back, with a brand new iPhone launching next Wednesday. Which will you be rooting for this year?

Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.

Via: GSMarena