Apple Regains Momentum As Windows Stutters And iPhone 6 Demand boosts Apple’s Sales In Europe

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to March 2014, shows Apple performing strongly in the first quarter of the year, with sales bouncing back in Europe, Japan and Australia. THe report notes that across Europe, Android remains the top OS with 70.7% share, while Apple holds second position at 19.2%. Windows, at third, accounts for 8.1% of smartphone sales. The big five European markets includes UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Apple regained ground in the first quarter of 2014, primarily due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5S, growing its sales share in Europe, Japan and Australia. By contrast, Windows had a tough start to the year as a result of its entry-level Nokia models facing fierce competition from low-end Motorola, LG and Samsung Android smartphones.”

The report says Apple has been particularly successful in Japan where, in the past quarter, it has secured 42% of smartphone sales on NTT DoCoMo, 59% on KDDI AU and 81% on Softbank. The design of the iPhone (30%) remains the key draw for Japanese consumers, followed by its 4G capability (29%) and the belief that it will be reliable (24%).”

Mr. Sunnebo continues: “Japans love affair with Apple shows no sign of fading. Even though the iPhone has now been available on Japans largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for a number of months Apple still accounts for more than 40% of sales on the network. The success of the iPhone is also filtering through to the iPad, with almost a quarter of Japanese iPhone owners also owning an iPad. With smartphone penetration in Japan lagging well behind Europe and the US, Japan will remain a key growth market for Apple.”

In China, phablet growth continues unabated. Devices with a screen larger than 5 made up 40% of smartphone sales in March. Mr. Sunnebo observes: “It’s clear that phablets really are changing the way Chinese consumers use smartphones. More than one in five phablet owners now watch mobile TV on a daily basis, half do so at least once a month, and this is without widespread availability of 4G. As 4G infrastructure expands in China, the demand for data is going to be unprecedented, paving the way for carriers to boost revenues significantly through larger data packages.”

Smartphone % penetration in Great Britain stands at 71% in March, with 88% of devices sold in the past three months being smartphones.

Strong Demand For iPhone 6 Boosts Apple’s Euro-zone 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.

Mr Sunnebo 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 Europes top five markets, the iPhone 6 has outsold the larger iPhone 6 Plus by five-to-one.

In the US, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech says 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 Apples 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.

Check out the evolution of the OS market shares in Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s interactive dataviz:
http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/smartphone-os-market-share/ interactive dataviz