Apple sales hold steady despite iPhone 6 pre-launch demand

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to August 2014, show that Apple’s share of British smartphone sales defied convention by holding steady ahead of the iPhone 6 launch. Apple was boosted by the iPhone 5c, which was Britain’s best selling smartphone during August.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Historically in the month before a new iPhone is released we see a drop in sales share for Apple as users hold out for the new model. However, Apple has managed to limit the drop this year with its share of sales dipping just 1.6 percentage points versus July this year – almost half the equivalent drop seen in 2013 ahead of the iPhone 5 launch. This has in part been achieved through focusing on the iPhone 5c which tends to attract a slightly less tech savvy buyer who will be less likely to be holding off for the iPhone 6. The iPhone 5c was the best selling phone in Britain in August with 8.9% share, outselling the flagship iPhone 5s with 7.6% and the Samsung Galaxy S5 with 6.0%.”

Despite Apple managing to maintain its sales momentum in the run up to the iPhone 6 release, there are a huge number of GB iPhone owners who are currently up for renewal. Of the 13.3 million iPhone owners in the UK almost a third – some four million – are ready for an upgrade.

Sunnebo continues: “Even before the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were revealed, 85% of British iPhone owners planned to choose another iPhone at upgrade time. Loyalty has never been Apple’s problem, but attracting customers away from Android has been a challenge. Before the iPhone 6 was announced just 13% of Samsung owners planned to switch to Apple with many choosing Samsung devices because of their larger screens. With this screen size issue now addressed by Apple with the iPhone 6 Plus, it now remains to be seen how much of a barrier iPhone’s significant price premium will have on people switching to it.”

Android has remained the number one OS across Europe* with 75.8% share, with Apple holding the number two position with 13.6%. Windows is third with 9.2% of sales during the latest period.

*The big five European markets includes UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.