According to the latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Android is the most popular platform in countries like Britain, China, Spain, Australia and Germany; while iOS is at the top in the US and Japan. Windows Phone is still an underdog, but it experienced strong European growth, particularly in Britain and Italy, with shares hitting 5.9% and 13.9% respectively, up from just 2.2% and 2.8% a year ago.
According to the research company’s Dominic Sunnebo (global consumer insight director), this has been far slower than Microsoft would have liked, but Windows Phone is now starting to gain respectable shares in a number of key European countries. However, its performance in two largest smartphone markets, China and the US, remains underwhelming.
When it comes to vendor shares, Samsung has held onto the number one spot in Britain, claiming 35% of smartphone sales, although Apple is now biting at its heels with 32%. Nokia’s smartphone sales share now sits at 6.2% with actual sales growing by over 50% compared with last year. Meanwhile, BlackBerry continues to find trading tough in the run up to the BlackBerry 10 release though its 9320 handset gave it a boost over Christmas with two-thirds bought as a gifts.
Smartphones proved popular over the festive season with a third of all handsets bought in December given as Christmas gifts. The most gifted smartphone was BlackBerry 9320, followed by the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and Apple iPhone 4S. The majority of smartphone gift recipients were under 18 years old and 57% were women. More than one in five handsets bought as gifts in Britain during December were from Tesco.