New data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that smartphone users ditching Android devices in recent months helped drive iOS growth across the EU. The data tracked the EU’s biggest markets in 1Q15— Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain— and shows iOS grew 1.8 percentage points from last year to 20.3% market share this year. That includes around 32.4% of new Apple customers switching from an Android device, according to the report, while Android lost 3.1 percentage points during the quarter. Although, in some markets, such as the UK, Android’s lead remained strong:
“In Great Britain, while 25.6% of new iOS buyers switched from Android during the quarter, Android’s leadership remains strong, thanks to the price options consumers have in both the contract and prepay market,” said Dominic Sunnebo, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. “Thirty-five percent of consumers who bought an Android smartphone in 1Q15 said their decision was driven by receiving a good price on the phone. Another 29% said that getting a good deal on the tariff/contract was a factor in their purchase.”
Apple also experienced growth in other markets during the quarter. In China, for example, Kantar says Apple grew from 17.9% in Q1 last year to 26.1% this year. The report notes that represents “25% of smartphone sales in urban China’s 2,000 to 4,000 RMBs income bracket — a 10.1 percentage point increase from the same period in 2014.”
In the US, however, Android saw minimal growth during the quarter:
In the U.S., Android reached a market share of 58.1% — a 0.2 percentage point gain over 1Q14.“ LG had a particularly good first quarter with its share growing to 10.8% from 7.4% a year ago, while Samsung was holding on to second place as it prepared for the launch of its new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in April,” Milanesi said.
Kantar’s full report is here.
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