Android device sales have overtaken the iPhone for the first time ever at Tesco Mobile, as Google’s mobile operating system grows in popularity in the UK.
The O2 and Tesco joint venture said customers were ‘really getting behind Google’s operating system’, adding that 2011 will be ‘the year of the Android’.
Before Christmas, iPhones were outselling Android smartphones by two-to-one on Tesco Mobile.
However, January saw a rapid increase in Android device sales, and in February this year Android overtook iPhone sales on the Tesco Mobile network.
The mobile operator said the rise was due to to affordability, fuelled by its ‘wide range of competitive deals on Android handsets’.
Tesco Telecoms and Tesco Mobile CEO Graham Harris said: ‘As one of the UK’s leading operators, these sales are a useful barometer for smartphone trends. There is a lot of choice in the market and as a result consumers are driving healthy competition between rival operating systems.
‘Tesco Mobile prides itself on customer service and offering customers what they want, through a wide range of competitive deals on all platforms. In addition to competitive Android smartphone deals, we also offer iPhone on a variety of fantastic 12 month.
‘However, we commend this healthy competition between operating systems as we see this as helping to drive consumer choice and flexibility.’
