Ios Growth Slows in China As Buyers Await New Year Deals

iOS Growth Slows in China as Buyers Await New Year Deals

Apple Remains Top Brand in China as Huawei Closesin

London, March 9, 2016 – The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months ending January 2016 shows that Apple’s iOS continued to grow share in urban China, though the rate of that growth was the slowest since late 2014. Apple also remained the most popular brand, capturing 25% of smartphone sales.

“Looking at the three months individually, January was the weakest month for Apple in China as more price-sensitive consumers might have been waiting to see what promotions Chinese New Year would bring in early February,” said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “In the rest of the world, smartphone platform dynamics remained pretty stable period-over-period, with no surprises.”

“In the EU5, Huawei remained the second strongest brand in the Android ecosystem, growing to 14% in the three months ending January 2016,up from 5% in the same period in 2014,”said Dominic Sunnebo, business unit director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. “In Great Britain and France, Huawei doubled its share over the past year, and climbed to number four in the brand ranking, while remaining number two in Italy, Spain and Germany.”

Europe’s big five markets (“EU5”) include Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

“In urban China, iOS share continued to grow year-over-year, albeit at a slower pace, as iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 6 were the best-selling smartphones in the region,” noted Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “Huawei continued its momentum and is closing the gap with its nearest competitor, Apple, capturing 24.3% of sales. Xiaomi, which announced its Mi-5 at the recent Mobile World Congress, maintained a distant third,as it dropped 10.2 percentage points over the same period in 2015.”

“In the US, the battle to persuade feature phone owners to upgrade to a smartphone was won by Android,which saw nearly a third (30.6%) of sales come from that segment, compared to 13.7% for iOS.Among first-time smartphone buyers in the Android ecosystem, Samsung was the top brand purchased, followed by LG, Motorola, and value-driven brands ZTE and Alcatel,”Milanesi explained.“Carrier choice also suggests a more value-driven consumer, with Tracfone Wireless and MetroPCS among the top five carriers chosen.”

Smartphone vendors are moving into new segments such as Virtual Reality, like HTC and Samsung, or 2-in-1s, like Huawei. Others will venture into new markets, like Xiaomi, which introduced its new flagship during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“The pressure is certainly on,”Milanesi observed,“and,for a lot of up-and-coming brands, the US will be a strong focus in 2016, sincesuccess in the North American market opens the door to being a truly global player. While the immediate focus of consumers and industry watchers alike will remain onSamsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge performance, and onApple’s rumoured release of another four-inch iPhone in mid-March, it certainly looks like the second half of this year will be very interesting for everyone.”

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Smartphone OS Sales Share (%)
Germany / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change / USA / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change
Android / 71.0 / 74.2 / 3.2 / Android / 51.9 / 58.2 / 6.3
iOS / 18.7 / 19.3 / 0.6 / iOS / 42.8 / 39.1 / -3.7
Windows / 8.9 / 5.9 / -3.0 / Windows / 4.3 / 2.6 / -1.7
Other / 1.4 / 0.6 / -0.8 / Other / 1.0 / 0.1 / -0.9
GB / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change / China / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change
Android / 51.5 / 52.6 / 1.1 / Android / 74.2 / 73.9 / -0.3
iOS / 39.9 / 38.6 / -1.3 / iOS / 23.9 / 25.0 / 1.1
Windows / 7.5 / 8.6 / 1.1 / Windows / 1.0 / 0.9 / -0.1
Other / 1.1 / 0.2 / -0.9 / Other / 0.9 / 0.2 / -0.7
France / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change / Australia / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change
Android / 65.3 / 71.8 / 6.5 / Android / 46.9 / 52.6 / 5.7
iOS / 20.2 / 19.3 / -0.9 / iOS / 42.4 / 41.2 / -1.2
Windows / 13.0 / 7.8 / -5.2 / Windows / 8.7 / 5.4 / -3.3
Other / 1.5 / 1.1 / -0.4 / Other / 2.0 / 0.8 / -1.2
Italy / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change / Japan / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change
Android / 66.6 / 78.1 / 11.5 / Android / 45.4 / 48.7 / 3.3
iOS / 18.3 / 14.4 / -3.9 / iOS / 52.4 / 50.3 / -2.1
Windows / 13.2 / 7.2 / -6.0 / Windows / 0.2 / 0.5 / 0.3
Other / 1.9 / 0.3 / -1.6 / Other / 2.0 / 0.5 / -1.5
Spain / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change / EU5 / 3 m/e Jan 15 / 3 m/e Jan 16 / % pt. Change
Android / 86.7 / 87.8 / 1.1 / Android / 67.1 / 72.8 / 5.7
iOS / 10.4 / 11.4 / 1.0 / iOS / 22.0 / 20.3 / -1.7
Windows / 2.5 / 0.8 / -1.7 / Windows / 9.6 / 6.4 / -3.3
Other / 0.4 / 0.0 / -0.4 / Other / 1.3 / 0.5 / -0.8

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About Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s Smartphone OS Market Share Data

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s smartphone OS market share data provides the media and businesses with access to the most up-to-date sales and market share figures for the major smartphone operating systems. This information is based on research extracted from the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech global consumer panel. ComTech is the largest continuous consumer research / mobile phone tracking panel of its kind in the world, conducting over one million interviews per year in Europe alone. ComTech tracks mobile phone behaviour – including phone purchases, bills/airtime, source of purchase, and usage. It also delivers additional data to promote an understanding of the drivers of share changes, and consumer insight market dynamics. All consumer data in this release excludes enterprise sales.

About Kantar Worldpanel

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Through continuous monitoring, advanced analytics, and tailored solutions, Kantar Worldpanel inspires successful decisions by brand owners, retailers, market analysts, and government organizations globally.With over 60 years’ experience, a team of 3,500, and services covering 60 countries directly or through partners, Kantar Worldpanel turns purchase behavior into competitive advantage in markets as diverse as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment, among many others.

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