The latest smartphone operating system data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that in the three months ending December 2017 iOS made an overall share gain of 0.7 percentage points to 24.8% across the big five European markets, despite market share falling by 2.4 percentage points in the UK.
Strong results in Spain and Germany, where iOS is nearing a quarter of the market, were also replicated in Urban China, Japan and Australia thanks to the performance of Apple’s newest three handsets, according to the research group. What’s more, the iPhone X made it into the top three best-selling devices in the month of December across Europe, Urban China, Japan, Australia and the U.S. iOS loyalty reached a new high of 96% in the U.S., though its sales share fell 0.5 percentage points to 43.9% in the country.
“The full results for the last quarter of the year show that Apple’s decision to release three new handsets over a staggered period, including the ultra high-end iPhone X, has been a sound one,” says Dominic Sunnebo, global director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “With Apple’s existing release structure, expectations would always be that the flagship model would be the top selling device in key developed markets, but with the premium price of iPhone X, real life affordability has come into play. Given that in December iPhone X made it into the top three best-selling devices across all key regions, particularly in urban China where it was the top selling model, the pricing strategy seems to have been vindicated.”
