In an interesting bit of development, Apple’s iPhone sales have overtaken that of Android devices for the period October – December 2014. The latest report coming in goes on to show the impact that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’s arrival has created on the local smartphone market. Further information to follow after the jump.
The report comes in from Kantar Worldpanel who has been providing us with details regarding the recent smartphone market share trends around the globe, and we have already seen how the arrival of the iPhone 6 / 6 Plus has significantly increased Apple’s market share across Europe and even the U.S, at a faster rate than that of Android devices, but Google’s mobile OS still managed to maintain a lead that was thinning at the time.
Kantar’s latest report this time around portrays a development that we believe many saw coming after the iPhone 6 sales broke all previous records. From the period recorded October to December 2014, Apple’s smartphone share in the U.S. was marginally greater than that of its Android counterpart, which is a first since 2012. Apple’s iPhone accounted for 47.7% of sales share, with Android following in closely at 47.6%, which is simply incredible given how one to two iPhone models released every year is competing with well, tons of Android models from tons of manufacturers released in that period. Windows Phone accounted for a lowly 3.8% of the sales share. What is more alarming for Android is the 3.8% drop of sales share when compared with the same period last year, which is exactly by how much Apple’s share has increased when compared to the same period last year.
The report goes on to note how the iPhone 6 turned up as the best-selling smartphone in the U.S.. According to Kantar, “While the success of the iPhone 6 and 6Plus is unprecedented, this quarter’s performance also points to Apple having its strongest portfolio ever.” As mentioned earlier, the assortment of Android offerings seems to have given iPhone an advantage this time around. “With a range of devices available at different price points in both contract and pre-pay, Apple was able to take advantage of a weaker Android offering at the premium end of the market.”
Apple’s latest offerings sold a record breaking 74.5 million units during the last quarter of 2014, a significant increase over the iPhone 5s and 5c launch in 2013.
(Source: KantarWorldpanel)
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