Google’s Android has overtaken Apple’s iOS in Australia, with the last 12 weeks seeing 42.9 per cent of smartphones sold running the Android operating system. It is the first time Apple has trailed a rival OS.
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| iPhone Killers: HTC’s Sensation & Samsung’s Galaxy S2 |
The figures have been calculated by Katar’s ComTech WorldPanel and are based on interviews with 10,000 Australians, according to the SMH.
The rapidly rising Android numbers reflect the trends overseas, with Europe and the US seeing the Google-developed OS experience similar growth.
“With the exception of the 12 w/e May data period, where Apple’s share was lower than its usual 35 per cent level, Apple has always been ahead of Android so this is the first period to really show quite a discrepancy between the two operating systems,” a Kantar spokeswoman said.
Kantar is attributing the rapidly growing droid sales figures to new high end adopters, including Samsung’s Galaxy S II and HTC’s Sensation.
Unlike the iOS software, Android is adopted by many manufacturers, with each brand competing against one another. As a result Android powered phones are priced more competitively, especially compared to the iPhone’s stagnant RRP.
Apple is not the only phone maker losing ground to Android, with Telsyte analyst Foad Fadaghi seeing large shifts from Nokia’s Symbian, Windows Phone 7 (WP7) and Blackberry’s OS move to Google software.
Up until now Apple’s iPhone has enjoyed steady growth and market dominance, but Fadaghi believes iPhone sales have slowed down due to customers holding out for its highly anticipated successor: the iPhone 5.
The rumour-mill claims that the next generation iPhone will be out on October 7th, with pre-orders being taken from September 30th. Despite the hype, Apple has kept its cool swagger by saying nothing.
