The impact of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch continued in the run up to Christmas with iOS growing its market share across the world, during the three months ending November 2014.
The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech also shows that Samsung particularly felt the pressure, seeing market share decline across Europe and in the US.
By contrast Motorola’s share grew thanks to the refresh of the Moto X and Moto G offering “good value for the money”, according to findings.
“While remaining the dominant global OS, Android’s market share dropped in most European markets and in the US where the decline was the first since September 2013,” says Carolina Milanesi, Chief of Research, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
"A decline in Android market share does not necessarily translate into bad news for all the ecosystem’s players.
“The choice of brands and devices within the ecosystem empowers consumers to drive different fortunes for the players in it.”
Across Europe, Android remained the dominant OS with a market share of 69.9%, although this is 3.2 percentage points lower than the same period in 2013.
“Great Britain saw the strongest share decline for Android at 6.7 percentage points,” adds Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe.
“Apple’s market share gain, triggered by the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch, continued into November when it reached 42.5% of British sales for a growth of 12.2 percentage points year-on-year mainly at the expense of Android.
“The longer the new iPhone models are on the market the more their appeal will extend beyond Apple’s loyal customers. For now customer switching from Android to iOS remains stable at 18%”, added Sunnebo.