Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has just released the latest smartphone sales data for the second quarter for 2015 and it shows some interesting trends with regards to the iOS and Android OS. Let us first get Apple’s iOS out of the way. Europe’s five largest countries – Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain – shows there is a growth of Apple’s iOS, while during the same time period its market share in the US is dropping. Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said, “Apple iOS returned to growth across all of Europe’s ‘big five’ markets, as it recorded its first year-on-year gain in France since February 2015.
Android continued its growth in the US through the quarter ending on June 30 with Samsung and LG each increasing their US share. According to the survey, 43-percent cited their decision to purchase Android because of a ‘good deal on the price of the phone’ as the main reason for their selection. Dominic Sunnebo from Kantar said, “In Europe, Android’s performance was mixed, posting its strongest year-on-year share drop in Germany since the beginning of 2015.” Across all of Europe’s big five countries, the screen size was the determining factor for their Android purchase – citing that ever since Apple increased its screen size, it has become a more important factor in purchasing a smartphone…if that makes any sense at all.
In the U.S. though, Samsung and LG are leading the Android pack. Milanesi said, “While the Android ecosystem in Europe and China continues to offer several brands to choose from, Android in the U.S. is undergoing its strongest consolidation yet, with Samsung and LG now accounting for 78% of all Android sales.” She also said that LG was the real winner as it doubled its U.S. market share, again, and for the first time it acquired more first-time smartphone buyers than Samsung. It will be interesting to see how the third and fourth quarters will look in the U.S. after the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ and if LG will launch more competition. Neither the LG G4 nor the Samsung Galaxy S6/S6 Edge sold like their companies expected.