Kantar Worldpanel ComTech says iPhone 5s users are more engaged with their devices

Feb 25, 2014 12:25 GMT  ·  By

iPhone 5c may or may not have been necessary to drive more sales for Apple’s smartphone business, but at least one demographic seems to be in love with the colorful handset.

The latest research from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reveals that Apple’s iOS is responsible for 19% of all smartphone sales in the past three months in Europe.

A good chunk of that figure comes from iPhone 5c sales, but just how much is hard to confirm. However, Britain may hold some evidence that the plastic iPhone 5c is not lagging, but actually picking up Steam.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement, “For Apple, there are encouraging signs as sales of its 5c model start to take off.”

“When Apple first launched its new iPhones in Britain the 5s outsold the 5c by 3:1. However, the iPhone 5c has gained momentum and was the third best-selling smartphone over the past three months, reducing the 5s/5c ratio to 2:1,” said Sunnebo.

Women are mostly responsible for this turn of events. British females are buying the most iPhone 5c units in the UK, according to the research done by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

“There is a stark gender divide between 5c and 5s buyers – in Britain 74% of 5c buyers are female versus just 36% for the 5s,” Sunnebo said.

He also noted that, while iPhone 5c is gaining traction, it is actually the iPhone 5s user who employs the many features Apple offers in its smartphone.

“There are also clear differences in how each device is used. 5s users are more engaged with their device, particularly for data heavy functions such as watching mobile TV or downloading music,” Sunnebo added.

In other words, women wielding iPhone 5c devices are probably buying less online content on their handsets. But you can bet there’s a Candy Crush Saga icon on every one of that iPhone 5c Home screens (with some in-app purchasing history tied to it).

Strategy consultant turned tech blogger Benedict Evans made an analysis of Facebook's ad platform recently and concluded that “the 5S is selling better than the 5C (which we pretty much knew), but the 5C has far from flopped, and women like the 5C much more than men.”

Evans added, “Women are a (very) slight majority in Facebook MAUs overall (which is probably within the margin of error). But they're a little more likely than men to buy iPhones, particularly in the USA, and much more likely to buy the iPhone 5C.”

One of the key reasons for why this is happening: the 5c is offered in a broad range of colors, says Evans.