Android dominates Europe with a 75.1pc share of smartphone market

28 Aug 2014

Google’s Android operating system continues to dominate the European smartphone market with a 75.1pc share. Apple’s iOS is in second place, with a 14.5pc share of the market.

The latest global smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to July 2014, shows Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has continued its reign over the Chinese market, holding onto the top spot with ease for the fourth consecutive month.

It boasts a 31.6pc share of the urban Chinese market, followed by Samsung and Huawei.

“We have seen huge shifts in power in the Chinese smartphone market over the past year,” Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said.

“Xiaomi has been the standout performer and Huawei has also seen excellent growth, while Coolpad has increased its share more modestly from 5.2pc to 6.1pc over the year.

“Considering the success of rapidly growing local brands in the Chinese market, it will be only a question of time before they seek further expansion internationally in a similar way to Huawei, and more recently Xiaomi”.

The same success, however, is not shared by all local brands, such as ZTE, Lenovo and Oppo, who have seen their shares come under pressure recently.

Android instrumental to the success of Apple rivals

Android has been instrumental to the success of Chinese brands, and also for smaller local European brands, such as Wiko, which have helped grow Android’s market-leading share in Europe to 75.1pc.

Apple still retains second place with a 14.5pc share of the market, while Windows takes third, accounting for 8.5pc.

In the UK, Samsung’s share of the market has been boosted from 32pc to 36pc compared with the same time last year.

Samsung’s success is mainly thanks to its new flagship handset – the Samsung Galaxy S5 – which is performing strongly. The Galaxy S5 was the best-selling model in the UK in July, taking 11.5pc of handset sales.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear just how important Samsung’s existing customers are to driving new sales,” Sunnebo said.

“Some 52pc of customers who bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 in Great Britain had previously owned a Samsung model, while 20pc were previous Apple owners, and 18pc moved from HTC.

“Apple is very good at giving existing customers a reason to remain loyal to the brand and to upgrade to new models when released. Samsung is becoming increasingly adept at employing the same tactic.” 

Android image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com