Apple has 53.3% of US sales in last trimester, Android strong in EU

According to data gathered by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Apple has secured a 53.3% sales share in the US in the 12 weeks ending on November 25. The main culprit for the impressive result is the iPhone 5.

Apple has passed the 50% mark for the first time ever, scoring a huge 17.5 percent points growth compared to the same period of last year. The surge in the iPhone 5 sales has relegated Android to the second most popular platform in the US for the three months period.

The picture is completely different in Europe, where even the launch of the latest iPhone is unable to stop the Android march. The Google OS has recorded a growth from 51.8% last year to 61% this time round, while iOS gained just 2.5 percent points to a market share of 25.3%.

Windows Phone is also doing pretty well on the Old Continent, gaining 2.1 percent points year over year and bringing up its share to 4.7%.

The difference is most pronounced in Spain where Android powers 84.1% of the smartphones, while iOS saw its share shrunk by 2.5 percent points to 4.4% share is barely ahead of Windows Phone, which grew 2.6 percent points to a total share of 3%.

Of the surveyed EU countries, iOS retains the strongest position in Great Britain, where it holds 36.1% of the market to Android's 51.5%. The growth of the Apple platform is also slightly faster - 5.3 vs 4.9 percent points.

The two platforms leading are relatively close in Australia, too - 35.9% for iOS and 58% for Android, but they seem to be going in the opposite directions there. The green robot army gained 11.3 percent points, whereas the iOS share is down 5.4 percent points.

In China Android has a commanding lead with shares standing at 72.2% and 19.2% respectively, but the data of the survey doesn't account for the iPhone 5 launch there, which was last week.

The final country to be included in the report is Brazil and it produced some pretty interesting numbers. Android's share grew more than two times to 60.7% in the past year, but surprisingly, it's Symbian that takes second place with a 27.9% share. Windows Phone snatches third place, despite seeing its share slide 1.8 percent points, while iOS comes a disappointing 5th.

In fact Brazil and Germany were the only two countries where the Microsoft platform lost positions, while all others are starting to warm up to Windows Phone. Italy is particularly eager to embrace the third largest platform, giving it a solid 11.8% of the market.

Here's the detailed breakdown (PDF).

Source | Via