Android smartphones lead the way in Europe, however their position at the top is slowly being reeled in by iOS, with Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus continuing to thrive.
The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech go up to the end of April, so don’t show the true effect of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 launch, which is the premium device in the Android realm and the most likely to challenge Apple.
Considering Apple is the sole driver of iOS, it’s pretty incredible that it can eat into Android’s admittedly healthy lead.
“Samsung’s new flagship products became available in April, and while sell-in numbers were already positively impacted in the first quarter, being available in stores for less than a month was not enough to make a significant difference in the sell-through volume,” reported Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
Milanesi also noted that Samsung personal share of the market actually increased in many parts of the world, despite the new models playing a presumably minor role.
It seems that iOS is attracting users away from Android, however Samsung is the under the least amount of threat somehow.
“Within the Android ecosystem, no one is in a better position than Samsung when it comes to loyalty,” says Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s Dominic Sunnebo.
Over in China, an increasingly important market for smartphone vendors, Apple’s market share is rocketing. It alone represents almost a quarter of all smartphones, up 7pc on last year.
Although Android is the dominant system overall, it’s not Samsung driving the trend, with Xiaomi and Huawei battling for the leadership of what is, at least globally, the Korean company’s domain.
In the US, Apple’s home market, Android actually performed strongest, strengthening it’s hold over the smartphone market and rising to 62.4pc (almost 3pc up, and actually down on Europe’s 70pc mark).
“Samsung’s share grew, working toward closing the gap on Apple as the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 remained among the top five best-selling models, ranking number two and five respectively,” Milanesi added.
