Android Share Growth Slows After Historic Gains Last Period

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Jun 15, 2016) - The latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months ending April 2016 shows Android continuing to make year-on-year gains across a number of regions, though that trend is slowing. In the EU5, Android accounted for 76% of smartphone sales, up 5.8 percentage points from 70.2% in the three months ending April 2015. Android share accounted for 67.6% of smartphone sales in the US and 78.8% in China.

Europe's big five markets include Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

"Android's gains continued in several regions including the EU5, US, and China, but the rate of growth has slowed," said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "In the EU5, year-on-year growth between March 2015 and 2016 was 7.1%. For the April-to-April time frame, that number dropped to 5.8% pts. What's more, we see only a 0.4 percentage point increase for the three months ending March 2016, up from 75.6% to 76%."

"In Great Britain, both Android and iOS had higher market share in the three months ending April 2016. Android represented 58.5% of the market in that period, a gain of 4.1% year-on-year," said Dominic Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. "And for iOS, this term showed the first increase since October 2015, though modest at just 0.4%, from 34.7% to 35.1%. Android gains came from Windows phone owners switching, a trend that produced nearly 10% of new Android customers, while 21.8% of new iOS buyers switched from Android."

"In Urban China, Android share rose 4.8% year-over-year, and 1.1% period-over-period, to capture 78.8% of smartphone sales in the three months ending April 2016," noted Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. "While movement from featurephones to smartphones has slowed significantly in developed markets like the US and EU5, this still makes up a significant proportion of smartphone sales in Urban China. Nearly a third of Android users during this time were purchasing their first smartphone, in contrast to iOS buyers, of whom only 14% were first-time smartphone customers."

"In the US, Android share increased 5.2%, capturing more than two-thirds of smartphone sales in the three months ending April 2016," Guenveur added. "While growth in other parts of the world has clearly been a result of movement either from the Windows ecosystem or a feature phone, Android gains in the US are powered by repeat customers. Among those replacing their smartphone, more than nine out of ten (91.4%) of Android buyers owned a previous Android device."

"In Europe and the US, the smartphone market is approaching saturation, and future successes for either of the two dominant ecosystems will come chiefly from drawing customers away from the other," Guenveur continued. "With Windows phones exiting the market, this battle will only intensify. For Android-Google and iOS-Apple this will mean not only looking to new markets where smartphone penetration has not yet peaked, such as India, and Latin America, but also to new services and products."

Recently announced services and products, like Google Assistant, Allo and Duo, the first Tango phone (Lenovo's Phab2Pro), a revamped Apple Music, and open development on iOS Siri, Maps, and Messenger, may play a part in the OS battle.

"We will be closely following all these forms of ecosystem evolution, which will make the next year's OS market even more thought-provoking than the last," Guenveur said.

To view an HTML version of the summary data and an optional PDF file, please visit:
www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Android-Share-Growth-Slows-After-Historic-Gains-Last-Period

Additional insights are available in our blog post:
www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Smart-assitants-the-stars-of-WWDC-and-io 

Smartphone OS Sales Share (%)
Germany			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change		USA			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change
	Android		74.4		76.8		2.4			Android		62.4		67.6		5.2
	iOS		17.0		15.3		-1.7			iOS		33.2		30.7		-2.5
	Windows		7.5		5.9		-1.6			Windows		3.8		1.3		-2.5
	Other		1.1		2		0.9			Other		0.7		0.4		-0.3
GB			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change		China			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change
	Android		54.4		58.5		4.1			Android		74.0		78.8		4.8
	iOS		34.7		35.1		0.4			iOS		24.5		20.1		-4.4
	Windows		9.6		5.8		-3.8			Windows		1.0		0.7		-0.3
	Other		1.3		0.6		-0.7			Other		0.6		0.4		-0.2
France			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change		Australia			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change
	Android		68.6		74.7		6.1			Android		54.4		64		9.6
	iOS		17.9		21.5		3.6			iOS		36.3		32.7		-3.6
	Windows		12		3.6		-8.4			Windows		7.6		2.8		-4.8
	Other		1.4		0.3		-1.1			Other		1.7		0.5		-1.2
Italy			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change		Japan			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change
	Android		69.4		79.6		10.2			Android		51.6		55.7		4.1
	iOS		15.8		13.3		-2.5			iOS		45.6		43.2		-2.4
	Windows		13.3		6.4		-6.9			Windows		0.2		0.1		-0.1
	Other		1.5		0.7		-0.8			Other		2.5		1		-1.5
Spain			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change		EU5			3 m/e Apr 15		3 m/e Apr 16		% pt. Change
	Android		88.6		93.9		5.3			Android		70.2		76.0		5.8
	iOS		8.8		5.5		-3.3			iOS		19.3		18.3		-1.0
	Windows		2.5		0.6		-1.9			Windows		9.3		4.8		-4.5
	Other		0.1		0		-0.1			Other		1.2		0.8		-0.3

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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 behavior -- 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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