Kantar April 2017: Windows Phone nearly extinct in Europe as iOS falters in China

For smartphone market share watchers, here are analyst company Kantar’s latest numbers for the smartphone market share for the 3 months ending April 2017.

The numbers show a continuing progression of Windows Phone fading out of the smartphone market while iOS and Android share the market share vacated by the OS. It also shows the English speaking market diverging from the rest of the world when it comes to smartphone OS support, with iOS making gains in USA, UK and Australia, but being dominated by Android in the rest of Europe and China in particular.

In urban China, Android captured 83.4% of smartphone sales, up 4.3 percentage points from 79.1% a year earlier. In contract  Android failed to achieve growth in the US, falling 5.9 percentage points to 61.7%, compared to 67.6% a year earlier.

“Android partner brands Samsung, LG, and Moto experienced year-on-year declines in the US,” reported Lauren Guenveur, Global Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel. “The Samsung Galaxy S8, released in the last two weeks of the April period did not show a significant impact on Samsung’s sales in the period ending in April, nor did LG’s G6. Neither of those made the list of Top 10 best-selling phones.”

“Early indications in our data for the three-month period ending in May 2017 show that the S8 and S8 Plus will reach a combined share of 8.1% in the US, slightly behind their predecessors the S7/S7 Edge at 8.8%. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remain the top sellers during the May period with combined share of 20.1%,” she added.

iOS accounted for 36.5% of smartphone sales in the US for the three months ending April 2017, a 5.8 percentage point increase over the same period one year earlier.

In urban China, iOS share for the period ending in April dropped year-on-year to 16.2%, 3.8 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago. For Apple, this was another period of decline in China that began during the three months ending February 2016.

“Importantly, Apple posted a strong period-on-period gain in urban China, rising to a 16.2% share from 12.4% in the first quarter of 2017, which was their lowest since early 2016,” said Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “iPhone 7 and 7 Plus sales recovered slightly, now representing 8.5% of smartphones sold in the region, outpacing both Huawei and Oppo models.”

In EU5, Android accounted for 78.3 percent of smartphone sales in the three months ending April 2017, increasing 2.2 percentage points from a year earlier. iOS posted a 1.1 percentage point gain to reach 19.3 percent of smartphone sales in the region.

Europe’s big five markets include Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

“Huawei captured 8.9% of smartphone sales in Great Britain during the three months ending April 2017, a 6.1 percentage point growth over the same period a year earlier,” noted Dominic Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. “Huawei, who have grown to the third largest brand across Germany, France, Italy and Spain, have contributed to the growth of the Android ecosystem, disrupted sales for Samsung and some local brands, and captured those leaving Windows and Nokia. However, the company has historically struggled for share in Great Britain, where Sony and Motorola have been the most popular brands after Apple and Samsung. These latest new figures are the first indications that Huawei is improving its position in Britain.”

See last month’s numbers here.