The most recent data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech showed that Android continues to be the undisputed leader in smartphone sales, TechCrunch reported.
Figures from the market research division of WPP showed that in the last three months ending January this year, Android comprised about 70% of sales in 12 vital markets. Its rival Apple got 22.1% of sales which represented a decrease of almost two percentage points from last month's figures. The sales of Windows Phone remained the same at 4.4%. The rest came from other platforms, including BlackBerry and Symbian which has already been discontinued, the report said.
The mobile platform developed by Google is apparently difficult to outseat since it is already used in 7 out of 10 smartphones purchased by consumers. However, the dominance of a platform may no longer be important with reports that Nokia and other rivals are already thinking of Android devices. Rather, the question is better focused on what OEMs are doing on that platform, the report said.
Samsung remains the leader in that area. Kantar Director Dominic Sunnebo told TechCrunch that the South Korea-based tech giant garnered 32.6% of sales in 12 key markets, representing a bit of an increase from the 32.2% it posted last month, the report said.
However, this does not give the whole picture. When one actually digs deeper into regional sales, it is seen that Samsung is facing serious competition from specific manufacturers. For example, the research found that the dominance of Samsung in UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain is "being eroded," the report said.
Sunnebo said, "In Europe Android continues to move towards 70% share, and the real battle now is among the Android manufacturers." While Samsung got 39.5% of sales, representing more than half, this is "lower compared with last year." Meanwhile, rivals like LG which got 6.9%, Motorola which garnered 1.7% and newcomer Wiko which had 2% are actually increasing their market shares as far as sales go. Kantar believes that with the MWC event which will unveil new devices, this trend is only set to continue, the report said.
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