Big data
According to the data for Europe's big five markets (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain):
- iOS continues to gain popularity in Europe's five largest countries, reaching a 20.3 percent share.
- That’s 1.8 percentage points higher than in 2014.
Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said: “On average, across Europe's big five countries during the first quarter, 32.4% of Apple’s new customers switched to iOS from Android.”
That’s not to say Android isn’t doing well in Europe – it still leads the pack, though its overall share declined by 3.1 percentage points compared to last year, to 68.4 percent; iOS rose by 1.8 percent.
Better
The root of Android’s success seems visible in value conscious markets – people choose an iPhone when they can, but will settle for a cheap Android device otherwise.
“In Great Britain, while 25.6 percent of new iOS buyers switched from Android during the quarter, Android’s leadership remains strong, thanks to the price options consumers have in both the contract and prepay market,” said Kantar’s Dominic Sunnebo.
“Thirty-five percent of consumers who bought an Android smartphone in 1Q15 said their decision was driven by receiving a good price on the phone. Another 29 percent said that getting a good deal on the tariff/contract was a factor in their purchase.”
China and U.S.
Apple in China continues to see growth, where its share reached 26.1 percent, up from 17.9 percent for the same period in 2014. Apple represented 25 percent of smartphone sales in “urban China's 2,000 to 4,000 RMBs income bracket — a 10.1 percentage point increase from the same period in 2014,” the analysts said.
There seems less positive momentum in the U.S., where Android grew 0.2 percent to 58.1 percent share (in contrast to Apple’s 36.5 percent), mainly on strength of growing interest in LG devices.
“Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus already represent 18 percent of all iPhones in use in the U.S.,” said Milanesi, who also pointed out that 64 percent of the iPhone installed base is an iPhone 5 or newer -- good news for the Apple Watch that interacts only with these newer models.”
Satisfaction 99 percent guaranteed
“Thirty-eight percent of iPhone buyers were recommended an Apple device by someone they know, while 23% recall seeing an ad,” said Kantar’s Tamsin Timpson.
Speaking in March Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed customer satisfaction for iPhone 6 series smartphones stands at 99 percent, an unprecedented level that pretty much guarantees consumers will deliver positive word of mouth recommendations for the products.
These numbers follow positive results over the previous Christmas quarter, when iPhones represented 57 percent and iPads 33.7 percent of all smartphones and tablets given as gifts in the U.S. As usual, Apple’s fast follower, Samsung devices took second place under U.S. Christmas trees.
What’s next?
While it’s clearly good news (for Apple) that 64 percent of its U.S. iPhone installed base is running a device capable of supporting an Apple Watch, it does mean that as we head into the next iPhone refresh, the company will need to work very hard to convince users to break their iPhone 6 contracts to upgrade. Company management appears pretty switched on to that challenge, of course, given the next iteration of the device is already being touted as such an advance the company may skip its traditional iPhone 6S name to christen the device the iPhone 7. Just look at the rumors about the device to see why this may be the case.
It will be interesting to see whether the innovation layered inside that future iPhone can compensate for the crazy pent up demand that awaited iPhone 6 last year.
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