The analytics firm notes that global smartphone shipments grew 30 percent annually to reach a record 1.3 billion units in 2014. Android has thus become the first ever smartphone operating system to ship more than 1 billion units in a single year. Speaking of billions, at its earnings conference call, Google said that Chromecast is now the number one streaming device in the U.S., as users have casted 1 billion times. Apple’s iOS shipped 192.7 million smartphones worldwide in 2014, but this is an impressive achievement for a single company. The company also has recently announced that it has sold its billionth device; and it also managed to have the most profitable quarter in the history of any company. On the third place we find Microsoft, who has shipped 38.8 million smartphones, which represents a 3 percent marketshare worldwide in 2014. As expected, BlackBerry did not make it into the report, as it falls into the Others category with a total share of 0.7% and 9.3 million units.
