Apple Sets New High with 53.3% of U.S. Smartphone Market, Android Holds Strong in Europe

[MacRumors]

Last month, research firm Kantar Worldpanel reported that Apple had retaken the lead in U.S. smartphone sales from Android over the August-October timeframe, topping Android by a 48.1%-46.7% margin on the strength of the iPhone 5 launch.

At the time, the firm suggested that Apple's share would continue to rise as the 12-week window of sales data shifted to include the iPhone 5 for its entirety, predicting that Apple would set a record high for market share within the following two periods.

Kantar Worldpanel has now released its data for the September-November period, and Apple has indeed set a record high with 53.3% of the market. Apple's share is up dramatically from 35.8% in the same period last year, although the iPhone 4S did not launch until later in the corresponding timeframe.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: "Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December."

Apple continues to fare less well in Europe, where even with growth of 2.5 percentage points year-over-year to reach 25.3% of the market, Android has surged farther ahead with a 9.2 percentage point gain and now holds 61% of the market.

Among the markets tracked by Kantar Worldpanel, Apple's best performance was in the United States, while its worst performances were in Brazil, Australia, Spain, and Italy, all countries where it lost share over 2011.

Article Link: Apple Sets New High with 53.3% of U.S. Smartphone Market, Android Holds Strong in Europe

[Patriot24]

Doomed.

[unlimitedx]

iPhone rulez

[bmunge]

Gained nearly 20% of the market share in the last year... Wow.

[Blomkvist]

Anyone reckon that Apple stock price will start to "rebound" now?

[JAT]

Meh. Statistics may not lie, but you sure can make them say whatever you damn well please.

[Jaro65]

What the heck is Bada and why is it even tracked?

[TC03]

The difference between US and Europe can be addressed to subsidizing, I think in Europe the price difference between iPhone and high-end devices from competitors is >€200,- while in the US it's no more than $100 (€80). Give or take.

For Apple's sake, I hope this subsidizing will continue forever, because this model is the main reason iPhone devices are more popular than Android devices.

Nevertheless, extremely impressive results, because the previous year was the first Android devices really caught up with the iPhone, but still the iPhone sales are way stronger. Really impressive.

[camnchar]

Good to see Apple back on top, no matter how briefly.

And these Apple-related posts are fine and good, but what I'm really missing are PATENT LAWSUIT STORIES

[sk1wbw]

And in other news, Windows holds the lead over the Mac.

Stories like this are so pathetic.

[BaldiMac]

Originally Posted by JAT

Meh. Statistics may not lie, but you sure can make them say whatever you damn well please.

What would you have liked to make them say?

[CindyRed]

It really is odd how the uniqueness of the iOS ecosystem makes it impossible to compare the iPhone with other phones on the market. It's not really competing against individual phone manufacturers, but software creators as well. So one can't simply say the iPhone beat out android or the iPhone beat out Samsung or HTC or Sony Ericson.

The only real comparison is up against Nokia and RIM, and let's face it, nobody needs to compete with those two anymore.

[lsvtecjohn3]

I wonder what will be iOS marker share in the US when T- Mobile starts selling the iPhone?

[Mike MA]

And there goes RIM....

[Oletros]

My God, the US mobile market is totally different than the European an Asian ones

[gpat]

They are doomed.
To success.
No matter how disappointing or crazily priced their products are.
A 16GB iPhone 5 is 729€ here in Italy, and I bought a Galaxy Note 2 for 490€ today.
No wonder they are losing share over here.

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by BaldiMac

What would you have liked to make them say?

He didn't suggest they should say anything different to appease him. He just said you can get statistics to say whatever you want.

[Patriot24]

Originally Posted by sk1wbw

And in other news, Windows holds the lead over the Mac.

Stories like this are so pathetic.

I would agree if it was simply reporting numbers that hadn't moved, but these aren't insignificant changes. There are ramifications to swings in the landscape either way.

More than anything, I think the numbers around RIM foretell a grim 2013 in Waterloo.

[paul4339]

even the 25.3% in EU isn't too shabby.

[iMeanIt]

Holy crap Tim-man!

This is going to be AAPL's largest quarter ever - huge!

[Ichabod.]

Heh, why is "Bada" even on the list?

[alfistas]

Originally Posted by Patriot24

Doomed.

LOL! a lot of people will be very upset with these news...

[BaldiMac]

Originally Posted by samcraig

He didn't suggest they should say anything different to appease him. He just said you can get statistics to say whatever you want.

Thank you for repeating him.

[blackburn]

Originally Posted by gpat

They are doomed.
To success.
No matter how disappointing or crazily priced their products are.
A 16GB iPhone 5 is 729€ here in Italy, and I bought a Galaxy Note 2 for 490€ today.
No wonder they are losing share over here.

That is the problem in Europe is that the iPhone is crazy expensive. I can buy an iPad and an relatively cheap phone and it still doesn't cost as much as an iPhone.
Most of the people that have iPhones the company for who they work for is paying for them.

[alfistas]

Originally Posted by Ichabod.

Heh, why is "Bada" even on the list?

What? Are you not aware of Samsung's homegrown OS? They were planning to take over the world with it.

Samsung fans do not like to be reminded of this though so tread carefully...