With Samsung shipping two times-plus more smartphones during the second quarter than Apple, it is clear that Android is becoming just as important for marketers as iOS.

Samsung shipped 76 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2013, more than two times what Apple shipped, according to Strategy Analytics. During the same period, Apple?s global smartphone share fell to 14 percent, its lowest level in three years while Samsung captured one-third of all smartphone shipments.

?The installed base of Android users has risen dramatically within which Samsung Android smartphones have a huge share as Samsung sells more Android phones than many other Android OEMs combined,? said Neil Shah, senior analyst for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA.

?So marketers cannot afford to ignore this huge and potential total addressable market,? he said.

New opportunities
For a long time, marketers approached the smartphone market with an iOS-first mentality.

However, the second-quarter figures are the latest sign that Apple is having a hard maintaining the same level of excitement around the brand that existed in the aftermath of the introduction of the iPhone and iPad.

Increasingly, the company is facing accusations that it has lost its innovative edge, with Samsung frequently named as leading the charge in smartphone innovation.

The need for marketers to include Android in their mobile strategies from the beginning is growing as the number of Android phones in the market increases.

Also, as Samsung gains, this is enabling new kinds of marketing opportunities not available on iOS, such as NFC-driven activations.

?Top brands and mobile marketers expect to be where their audiences are, and increasingly that is on Android devices,? said Ryan McConville, senior vice president of publisher partnerships at Kargo, New York. ?As a media company and a marketer it is our responsibility to make sure we have a presence on all of the key devices.?

Strategy conundrum
In comparison to Samsung, Apple?s shipments grew just 20 percent in the second quarter for a total of 31.2 million, less than half the overall smartphone industry average of 47 percent.

Apple is underperforming because interest is strong for three-inch Android models at the low-end of the market and five-inch Android models at the high-end, two segments where Apple does not compete, per Strategy Analytics.

?Apple is caught in its strategy conundrum as the premium segment on which they are only focusing has become highly competitive and reached its ceiling,? Strategy Analytics? Mr. Shah said.

?Competing ecosystems, Android and Windows Phone, have almost caught up with iOS and OEMs such as Samsung, LG and Nokia integrating cutting-edge technology in their flagship devices are wooing away consumers from buying iPhones,? he said.

?In high-growth markets such as China and India, consumers are quickly embracing large-screen superphones and phablets on one end and hundreds of millions of feature phone users are embracing lower-cost smartphones. These are the segments in which Apple is absent and thus missing out on significant growth opportunities.?

There is even the possibility that LG could challenge Apple for the No. 2 spot in smartphones based on its strong performance in the second quarter. LG doubled global shipments for a total of 12.1 million units, or a 5 percent market share, driven by the Optimus and Nexus models.

If LG can expand its retail presence and marketing in major countries, it could knock Apple out of second position, per Strategy Analytics.

Overall growth strong
Overall, the smartphone category continues to be strong, with global shipments growing 47 percent for a total of 230 million units in the second quarter, the largest volume of smartphones ever shipped in a single quarter.

ZTE shipped 11.5 million smartphones worldwide for a record 5 percent market share in Q2 while Huawei shipped 11.1 million smartphones.

?The news is not terrible for Apple,? Kargo?s Mr. McConville said. ?Rather it is part of an ongoing transformation of the marketplace and increased competition, which is great for consumers.

?For media companies and marketers, the challenge is keeping up, developing for multiple platforms,? he said.

?Designing apps, sites and advertisements capable of running inside this fragmented ecosystem is increasingly challenging, which will grow the need for companies such as Kargo.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York