Earlier today, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech released their latest report detailing the current growth levels of Android on a worldwide scale. The most notable observation from the report was that Android as an operating system has seen its highest level of growth in Europe for the last two years. Although, growth was also noted for the operating system in both the U.S. and China as well. Generally speaking, a good first quarter for Android overall. However, one of the key points in which Kantar touched upon was the release of the Samsung Galaxy S7 during this period. An aspect, the data analyst firm has now expanded on.
The recent for the expansive report is that Kantar notes that in the U.S., the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge proved to be the fifth best selling smartphone between January and March of this year. While on the face of it ‘fifth’ does not sound all that impressive for a company like Samsung and a flagship smartphone like the Galaxy S7, this is keeping in mind that the data collected was representative of the three months leading up to the end of March. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge only became available to buy in the U.S. on March 11. Thereby, accumulating enough sales to become the fifth biggest smartphone over a three month period within just a few weeks. This equated to 5.8-percent of all sales for the period. An aspect Kantar further notes is in stark contrast to its predecessor, the Galaxy S6, which only managed to reach the tenth position in the U.S. by the close its first respective selling quarter (ending April 2015). Which again equated to a 3.2-percent share of the market for that quarter.
Besides the actual ability to generate big enough sales to become a standout smartphone for the period, Kantar also looks to explain why buyers opted for the Galaxy S7 to begin with. Their research suggests that one of the main reasons why Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge buyers chose the smartphone was the battery life. According Kantar, 53.5-percent of buyers noted battery life as their main reason for buying. Another front-running reason which has emerged is the camera capabilities of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, with 50.9-percent of respondents noting this as a reason for the purchase. Which in stark contrast to the 33.5-percent of all people (not just Galaxy S7 buyers) who noted this as the reason why they bought a smartphone during the same period. While storage also seemed to be a positive for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, with 36.5-percent of buyers offering this as their reason for buying, compared to only 17.8-percent who noted this as a reason they purchased any smartphone in the same period. Last but not least, Kantar also picks up on the fact that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge were heavily promoted devices at launch, which also helped to secure buyers who were more price-oriented during the period. In fact, all of these reasons and the general performance of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in March has led to Kantar suggesting that the Galaxy S7 is likely to be crowned the best-selling smartphone when the Q2 figures come through.