Demand for iPhone 6 boosts Apple?s sales
The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to September 2014, shows that Android is continuing its dominance of the European* OS market with a 73.9% share. Apple meanwhile holds the second highest share with 15.4%, while Windows stands in third with 9.2% of the market.
Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Our latest data covers the first few days of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus being available in Europe and it is clear that demand has been high for the eagerly awaited new models. In Great Britain, where the new iPhone models started shipping on 19 September, Apple saw its sales share up by 1.7% compared with the same period last year, taking share of iOS to 31%. Across the major European markets, where the new iPhone models were made available between the 19 and 26 September, initial sales of the new iPhone models have overwhelmingly been from existing iPhone owners (87%). This is not surprising as consumers who already own Apple products tend to remain loyal and are keen to get their hands on new models. Drawing in customers who are switching from competitor brands is more likely to happen once offers and promotions on the new iPhones start to kick-in.
“Apple has also experienced market share and volume increases across all major European markets, as well as in China and Australia, in part thanks to the launch of its new handsets. Across Europe’s top five markets, the iPhone 6 has outsold the larger iPhone 6 Plus by five-to-one.
In the US, market competition has been reinvigorated with LG and Motorola increasing their shares. The recently launched LG G3 and Motorola Moto X are better positioned to compete with flagship products from Samsung and HTC. Smartphones sales grew 35% over the past year in the US. Despite Apple’s share declining 3 percentage points in the three months ending in September, compared with the same period last year, it is clear that demand for the iPhone 6 has been very healthy.
In China, the world’s largest smartphone market, local brand Xiaomi continues to dominate. Its Xiaomi Red Rice 1S and Xiaomi Rice Note models were the two top selling smartphones over the past three months helping it to secure a 30.3% share, followed by Samsung with an 18.4% share. Some 16% of smartphones sold in China over the past three months had a screen size of 5.5 inches or larger – a positive indicator that the iPhone 6 Plus, which will be released together with its smaller sibling in time for Chinese New Year, is likely to be successful in this market.
*The big five European markets includes UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.