The most popular mobile operating system (OS) in South Africa is Android, dominating the country’s market share with an average of 81% between January 2017 and June 2022.
MyBroadband analyzed market share of mobile operating systems in South Africa using Statcounter Global Data.
Notably, iOS market share in South Africa has grown steadily, almost doubling from 8.32% in January 2017 to 16.38% in June 2022.
Android’s mobile operating system market share also increased significantly, increasing by 10.28% over the same period.
However, Android’s dominance in the South African market comes as no surprise.
The operating system ships on virtually every non-Apple smartphone sold in the country, including very affordable 4G models with prices starting from R550.
Many budget smartphones run some form of Android, whether it’s an older version of the software or its lite version, Android Go.
Manufacturers using Android for their smartphones include Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, which use custom versions of Google’s mobile operating system.
On the other hand, iOS is only available with Apple iPhones, with the iPhone SE 2020 model selling for R9,000.
The graph below tracks the market share of mobile operating systems in South Africa from January 2017 to June 2022.
A recent MyBroadband analysis compared ten South African smartphones can buy for less than 1,000 randall of which come with some version of Android Go.
While Apple sells a budget smartphone, the iPhone SE, it is relatively expensive compared to its Android alternatives.
For example, Samsung’s Galaxy A73 5G – its latest and greatest mid-range handset – sells for R9,999, while the latest iPhone SE is available for R12,499 on the iStore.
While both devices offer 5G connectivity, the Galaxy A73 5G has a larger 120Hz display, more memory, and a larger battery.
Data from Statcounter Global also shows various other mobile operating system market shares over the comparison period, all of which have declined to the point where they are negligible.
For example, Nokia held a mobile operating system market share of 6.14% in January 2017, which fell to 0.07% in June 2022.
Similarly, Blackberry OS held 5.28% of the South African market, which fell steadily to 0.02% in June 2021. Data from Statcounter Global shows that Blackberry had no market share in South Africa in 2022 .
This is expected, as the company has dismantled its services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10, as well as PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier, starting January 4, 2022.
Security naivety among South African iOS users
Stellenbosch University researchers Martin and Rika Butler published a research paper last year confirming interesting differences in cybersecurity awareness among South African Android and iOS users.
Their survey found that South African iPhone users reported lower levels of security knowledge and demonstrated poorer security behavior than Android users.
“This study confirms that there is indeed a difference between the security behavior of users of different operating systems, confirming previous research that has investigated this issue,” their research paper bed.
The team’s sample of 549 respondents included 201 iOS users and 348 Android users. The survey found that Android users, on the other hand, exhibited significantly more security-related behaviors than iOS users.
They also found that Android users see themselves as significantly more vulnerable to threats than iOS users, with the latter having less need to protect their smartphones.
“Researchers found that iOS users displayed lower levels of security knowledge, which may impact their perception of threats,” the research team said.
“Furthermore, research has also indicated that Android users perceive themselves to be more susceptible to security threats than iOS users, and Android users are more privacy-conscious than iOS users. “
The table below summarizes the mobile OS market shares in South Africa between January 2017 and June 2022.
| Mobile OS market shares in South Africa | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | android | iOS | Tizen | blackberry | nokia | Unknown | the Windows | |
| January 2017 | 73.15% | 8.32% | 0.85% | 5.28% | 6.14% | 2.30% | 2.66% | |
| June 2017 | 74.62% | 9.80% | 1.54% | 4.05% | 4.05% | 3.05% | 2.15% | |
| January 2018 | 77.81% | 11.32% | 1.96% | 1.75% | 2.09% | 3.10% | 1.46% | |
| June 2018 | 81.11% | 11.71% | 1.63% | 1.06% | 1.32% | 1.87% | 0.96% | |
| January 2019 | 81.25% | 15.26% | 1.02% | 0.79% | 0.71% | 0.21% | 0.50% | |
| June 2019 | 81.60% | 16.07% | 0.75% | 0.43% | 0.44% | 0.16% | 0.32% | |
| January 2020 | 84.79% | 14.05% | 0.45% | 0.12% | 0.31% | 0% | 0.17% | |
| June 2020 | 84.26% | 15.30% | 0.20% | 0.04% | 0.09% | 0% | 0.02% | |
| January 2021 | 84.05% | 15.59% | 0.12% | 0.03% | 0.13% | 0% | 0% | |
| June 2021 | 85.02% | 15.70% | 0.09% | 0.02% | 0.11% | 0% | 0% | |
| January 2022 | 83.93% | 15.89% | 0.07% | 0% | 0.06% | 0.01% | 0% | |
| June 2022 | 83.43% | 16.38% | 0.05% | 0% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0% | |
