The stereotype of the smartphone industry is that systems running the Android and Apple operating systems share the market with a huge collective coverage, although with much less exclusivity than their rivals, the category of ‘Android phones’ would most likely be a widespread category in which many big-name manufacturers hold a large stake. The reality, however, appears to be a little different, with one name far ahead of the rest in the internal ‘Android’ smartphone market, and by a surprising distance.
South Korean company Samsung, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (from English research firm Kantar), are currently responsible for half of all smartphone sales in Europe’s 5 ‘major markets’ (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), according to Kantar’s report.
The figures supplement the 70.4% share that Android enjoys in the region, compared with Apple/iOS’s 17.8% and Windows Phone’s 6.8%. In the ‘US’ portion of the study, however, it was noted that Android are a lot less dominant with just 52% of the market under their control, compared with 41.9% for Apple/iOS.
Kantar’s ‘global consumer and insight director’ Dominic Sunnebo said of the trends found in the study, and of how Samsung need to use brand loyalty as a key element in maintaining their successful figures: “Across Europe, Android growth remains strong. However, in the US Apple’s expanded distribution agreement with T-Mobile is helping the iPhone keep Android growth at bay. T-Mobile is the smallest of the big four US carriers but it does have the capacity to give iOS a boost, particularly as 28% of its customers plan to buy an iPhone when they next upgrade.
“The flagship Xperia Z has driven Sony’s growth in Britain by successfully appealing to Samsung customers. Some 38% of Xperia’s users are ex-Samsung owners, the majority of whom have upgraded from the Galaxy S2. Samsung now finds itself in a position where, after two years of relentless growth, it must focus on keeping its existing base of customers loyal if it is to maintain its success. As it stands, Samsung has the second highest loyalty rate in Britain (59%), but this falls well short of Apple (79%). With the competition dramatically upping their game in terms of build quality and content innovation, Samsung will have to work hard to convince its 8.8 million customers to stick with the brand.”
With a surprisingly large number of people buying Samsung (with the surprise coming by proportion rather than any quantity), they must be doing something right at the moment, and their current success in Europe would give them a rather large safety net…
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