Samsung continues to lead European smartphone market, and the Galaxy manufacturer now has five of Britain’s top 10 best selling handsets.
Samsung has increased its European market share to 45 per cent, while RIM has found its share in the UK fall to 10.9 per cent, compared to 21.6 per cent at the same point of last year, according to market data company Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
It also reported Apple’s customer loyalty in the UK would see its share increase when the new iPhone is released, with 92 per cent of iPhone users reporting that they plan to get another Apple handset when they upgrade.
The Android smartphone OS has more than 65 per cent of the smartphone market across Europe’s big five countries, up from 42.7 per cent in July 2011.
Smartphone sales by OS, 12 weeks to w/e July 8th, 2012
As the leading Android vendor, Korea’s Samsung has 45 per cent of the European smartphone market, Kantar said.
Android’s success in terms of sales in the 12 weeks to July 8th 2012 reflects the fact that many Apple loyalists are delaying their upgrades in anticipation of the release of the iPhone 5, which is expected to launch in September.
Apple’s market share dropped in all of the top five European markets apart from the UK over the course of the year. Britons’ appetite for the iPhone saw Apple’s UK share grow to 22.9 per cent from 20.8 per cent at the same point in 2011.
Apple remains very strong in the US, increasing its market share from 28.7 per cent to 38.2 per cent over the course of the year.
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech global consumer insight director Dominic Sunnebo said: “While the majority of noise is focused on big-name products such as the S3 or S2, it’s easy to forget that Samsung is selling smartphones across all tiers. As a result it now makes up five out of the top ten best selling smartphones in Britain – with even the smartphone/tablet hybrid Samsung Galaxy Note making it into the top ten.”
The company also reported RIM’s falling market share is now down to 10.9 per cent in the UK with Windows Phone’s share of the OS market stable at around 3 per cent.
Research In Motion has seen its share decline in all the markets for which data was released by Kantar apart from France, where its share rose fractionally. RIM’s share in Germany dropped to less than one per cent, from almost four per cent in July 2011.
Source: Kantar
