Samsung phones may have topped the iPhone in the latest smartphone ratings from Consumer Research, but the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus remain the top-selling phones in the U.S.
The latest smartphone operating system data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reveal that in the three months ending in April, iOS and Android continued to increase their market share in most regions.
In urban China, Android captured 83.4% of smartphone sales, up 4.3 percentage points from 79.1% a year earlier. However, Android failed to achieve growth in the U.S., falling 5.9 percentage points to 61.7%, compared to 67.6% a year earlier.
“Android partner brands Samsung, LG, and Moto experienced year-on-year declines in the US,” reports Lauren Guenveur, Global Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel. “The Samsung Galaxy S8, released in the last two weeks of the April period did not show a significant impact on Samsung’s sales in the period ending in April, nor did LG’s G6. Neither of those made the list of Top 10 best-selling phones.”
Early indications in Kantar’s data for the three-month period ending in May show that the S8 and S8 Plus will reach a combined share of 8.1% in the U.S., slightly behind their predecessors the S7/S7 Edge at 8.8%. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remain the top sellers during the May period with combined share of 20.1%.
Apple’s iOS accounted for 36.5% of smartphone sales in the U.S. for the three months ending April 2017, a 5.8 percentage point increase over the same period one year earlier.
In urban China, iOS share for the period ending in April dropped year-on-year to 16.2%, 3.8 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago. For Apple, this was another period of decline in China that began during the three months ending February 2016.
“Importantly, Apple posted a strong period-on-period gain in urban China, rising to a 16.2% share from 12.4% in the first quarter of 2017, which was their lowest since early 2016,” says Tamsin Timpson, strategic iInsight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “iPhone 7 and 7 Plus sales recovered slightly, now representing 8.5% of smartphones sold in the region, outpacing both Huawei and Oppo models.”
In the European Union Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom), Android accounted for 78.3% of smartphone sales in the three months ending in April, increasing 2.2 percentage points from a year earlier. iOS posted a 1.1 percentage point gain to reach 19.3% of smartphone sales in the region.
