The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to August 2013, has been released.
Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement: “After years of increasing market share, Android has now reached a point where significant growth in developed markets is becoming harder to find. Android’s growth has been spearheaded by Samsung, but the manufacturer is now seeing its share of sales across the major European economies dip year on year as a sustained comeback from Sony, Nokia and LG begins to broaden the competitive landscape.”
In the United States, Apple continues to grow strongly year on year and now makes up 39.3% of sales. This is set to spike in the coming months with the release of the iPhone 5S & 5C.
Apple and Android have recorded almost identical shares of sales in Japan – 48.6% and 47.4% respectively. However, news that the new iPhone range will be available on Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for the first time, makes it likely that Apple will pull ahead of Android in this key market.
BlackBerry’s troubles continue; the operating system now accounts for just 2.4% of sales across the big five European markets* and 1.8% in the United States.
Source: Kantar Worldpanel ComTech
I’m totally ready.
As one internet-famous Nintendo executive once put it, “My body is ready!”
As chef Alton Brown used to say, “your patience will be rewarded.”
Yes that is so true and rightfully so!
Android sales are higher than iOS sales, largely because the only way to get operating system updates on Android is to buy a new phone. This does NOT mean that there are more Android users than iOS users. Just that they sell more phones. (Not to mention that many of those Android phones are sold to stores, not to users.)
I follow @Avatron on Twitter. They say that 72.4% of iPad users running their Air Display app are already on iOS 7. Compare that to Android, where only 8.5% of users are running OS version 4.2 or up, despite that 4.2 came out in October 2012.
I wonder what happens to Android when Google throws up its hands and walks away. Don’t think it won’t happen. What’s the point of spending time, effort, and money to update Android when a full year goes by with less than 10% uptake? Google’s got ChromeOS to work with if it feels it truly needs its own computing platform. In the meantime, Android is costing Google and Samsung huge legal bills, and Google’s not seeing much ROI on its R&D. Why continue development?
——RM
Those 2 for 1 bargains have also skewed their percentages. Something they can’t afford over the long term. While a lot of people were singing Apple’s doom, iPhone users were just being patient waiting for the next iPhone update. Apple’s iPhone users have a brand loyalty the others just can’t match. Plus the fact your stuck with whatever iteration OS is on your Android phone at time of purchase doesn’t bode well for Apple’s competitors.
Android smartphones absolutely have to have higher market share than the iPhone because the whole platform was designed to do just that. Apple certainly can’t manufacture enough iPhones to satisfy the whole planet. There have to be countries where it is just not practical for consumers to buy iPhones due to their higher cost. The smartphone market also doesn’t need to be dominated by just two platforms.
I just don’t understand Wall Street’s reasoning that Android will continue to grow indefinitely. Does Wall Street think that consumers only aspire the the cheapest products possible? People like to try other things every once in a while. Wall Street calling for the death of the iPhone and iOS just seems so narrow–minded and short-sighted.
iPhone rocks love you Steve!
“…Nokia’s popular 520 and 620 handsets are driving the growth, particularly toward the middle and lower ends of the smartphone market.”
It appears to me that iOS is gaining on Android in all english speaking countries, and Windows is taking share from Android everywhere else. Die Android, just die.
The 5s is a fantastic phone. Just wait to see what happens to iOS share in a year!
You can’t ignore the fact that Apple is always improving the OS as well. A few people are complaining about iOS. 7, but the vast majority are very pleased with it. iOS will only get better over time as Apple will address what few shortcomings the OS has. Nobody does this better than Apple. With Apple’s ecosystem the way it is, it’s incredibly easy to get the latest updates for iDevices. Something the competition can only envy. Between forking and fragmentation, Android and their ilk are becoming very unattractive. Microsoft is trying to copy the Apple model in regards to being able to update their offerings, which will attract many users using Android, but very few using iOS devices. Should be interesting to watch how this plays out over the next few years.
A news report from barely four years ago:
“Blackberry is still the leader of the pack” (http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/17/technology/rim_blackberry_preview/)
With 55% of the smartphone share, RIM dominated the market barely four years ago.
A lot of things can happen to Android in four years…