iPhone triumphs in U.S., while Android continues to decline

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iPhone 7
iPhone 7, 7 Plus and 6s were big winners over the holiday season.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Sorry Android, it seems that iOS got the better gifts this Christmas!

According to the latest Kantar Worldpanel ComTech sales figures, iOS gained market share at Android’s expense in the United States, United Kingdom, France and elsewhere.

In the U.S., this marked the sixth consecutive quarterly decline for Android, while Apple grew 6.4 percent year-on-year.

Although Google’s mobile platform still makes up 55.3 percent of all smartphone sales in the country, this is down from the 60.4 percent it managed in the same period one year earlier. Considering how many handsets run Android, while only iPhones run iOS, it’s a pretty darn impressive stat for Apple.

As per Kantar’s figures, the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone 6s were the three most popular smartphones in the U.S. at the start of the holiday season, and made up a combined 31.3 percent of smartphones sales. That means that roughly one in every three smartphones sold was made by Apple.

Following the iPhone were the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as the fourth and fifth best-selling handsets respectively. Samsung’s flagship devices made up a close-fought 28.9 percent of smartphone sales.

Apple’s most impressive growth market was Great Britain, where sales were up a sizable 9.1 percent.

Not so big in China

One notable market where Apple didn’t see iOS growth, however, was in Urban China. iOS was down year-on-year to a 19.9 percent share, compared with 25.3 percent a year earlier.

“Nearly 80% of all smartphones sold in Urban China during the three months ending November 2016 were Android, as local brands continued to dominate the market,” said Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “Huawei represented 25% of all sales, but its share declined 3.1 percentage points from the three-month period ending October 2016, marking only its second period of decline in more than two years.”

Tim Cook has repeatedly spoken about the emphasis Apple places on China, and has described the country as Apple’s future biggest market.

While this may seem bad news for Apple, though, the iPhone 7 has still proven very successful in the country. With a massive refresh planned for the iPhone 8 later this year, Apple has good reason to feel confident going into the new year.

Source: Kantar

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