The latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months ending March 2016, have shown that
Android is continuously growing its sales across EU5, US, and Urban China. There have been immense gains in the EU5 (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), up 7.1 percentage points to 75.6 percent. In the United States, Android share has increased by 7.3 percentage points to 65.5 percent and in China it rose nearly 6 percentage points over 77 percent.
Image Source: kantarworldpanel.com
Lauren Guenveur, mobile analyst for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech,
states,
“This is the strongest growth for Android across the EU5 in more than two years. What’s more, the growth is coming not just from one or two players, but from different brands and ecosystems, varying from region to region.”
In the EU5, it has been seen that the iOS share has declined from 20.2 percent to 18.9 percent in three months, ending in March 2016. Windows sales too have dropped by 5 percentage points to become 4.9 percent of overall smartphone sales in the region. Nearly 7 percent (6.6 percent) of new Android customers came from Windows, vs. just 3.3 percent from iOS. Among the new iOS buyers 2.6 percent migrated from Windows.
Dominic Sunnebo, business unit director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe, states,
“For those switching from Windows, Android has offered a better user experience, with a variety of brands and models across a multitude of price points. In Italy and France, the strongest Windows Phone markets for a time, nearly 10% of Windows mobile users moved to Android in the three months ending March 2016. What’s more, they opted for brands like Huawei, Wiko, and Asus, featuring mid-range devices that represent good value for the money. Contrast that with Great Britain, where Android growth is still dominated by Samsung, and driven in this period by mid-range devices like the J5 and A5.”
Android’s gains in the US came from the increased sales by ecosystem partners Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
Guenveur states,
“Although it was available for only a few weeks during this sales period, the Samsung Galaxy S7 was the fifth best-selling device in the three months ending March 2016, capturing 4.2% of sales. The Galaxy S6 also performed well, due to price reductions before the S7’s release. Motorola experienced higher sales, particularly with Verizon, and grew to 9.8% of the smartphone market, up from 6.9% a year previously.”
Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia, informs,
”In Urban China, iOS continued to decline to 21.1% in the three months ending March 2016, down from 26.1% in the same period a year ago. Android had its best year-on-year growth since the three-month period ending October 2014, moving up 5.9% points year-on-year to 77.7%,” said Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. Huawei continued to expand, reaching its highest purchase share so far, at 24.6%. This has been driven by the high-end Mate 8 and the value-tier Honor 5X. Oppo, traditionally known as a value-tier brand, reached 6.5% of smartphone sales, increasing most significantly in the ¥2,000.”
Guenveur feels that the share growth from Samsung Galaxy S7 is expected to be among the most popular smartphone of the year. As the impact of S7 materializes, it might change the nature and path of the Android market.
She also goes on to say that the Android share could also be negatively affected by the high demand for Apple iPhone SE. iphone SE sales would be especially important in China, where success in the mid-tier will determine the top player in the region.