Android is the clear smartphone operating system market leader in Australia, however year-on-year has lost market share with iOS gaining ground, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech sales data for the three months ending in April has revealed.While Apple’s iOS experienced a surge on the back of the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Android has regained ground in recent months.
For the three months ending in April, Android captured a 53.8 per cent market share, with iOS securing 36.8 per cent of the market, while Windows came in at 7.7 per cent of the market.
However, year-on-year Android has seen its market share decline, having recorded a 60.8 per cent market share in last year’s corresponding quarter – iOS, by comparison, grew over the course of the year from last year’s 30.1 per cent market share. Windows also grew over the course of the year, having captured 6.7 per cent of the market in last year’s corresponding quarter.
Meanwhile, Android has gained market share in the US while losing ground in Europe.
The Kantar figures reveal Android reached a market share of 62.4 per cent in the US, a 2.9 percentage point gain over the three months ending in April 2014, while across Europe, Android’s market share declined by 2.3 percentage points compared to last year.
Having been released in April, the full impact of Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is yet to be fully recorded in markets around the world.
“Samsung’s new flagship products became available in April, and while sell-in numbers were already positively impacted in the first quarter, being available in stores for less than a month was not enough to make a significant difference in the sell-through volume,” Carolina Milanesi, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech chief of research, stated.
“Samsung’s share of the smartphone market grew in the US, France, Germany and Italy, but we are not in a position to say that the new models have been the ones fuelling the growth.”
