The global smartphone market continued to grow in 2016

Feb 8, 2017 10:22 GMT  ·  By

Kantar Worldpanel has just released a report revealing that Apple was the top smartphone brand in 2016 in two major Western markets, the US and Great Britain. iOS continued to grow year on year across all tracked markets, except for China.

On the other hand, Android rose in many countries, but not in the US, Great Britain and Australia. “Although Android still has a larger ecosystem, Apple was the top brand in the US and Great Britain for the final quarter of 2016,” said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Samsung ranked first in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the five biggest markets in Europe, followed by Huawei. Apple didn’t manage to capture the first spot in China, currently held by Huawei. In the US, iOS accounted for 44.4% of all smartphone sales in Q4 2016, up 39.1% compared to the same quarter in 2015. Android held 54.4% of all sales, down 4.7% compared to the last quarter in 2015.

“iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were the top sellers for the holiday period, netting their highest share since their release in mid-September, and representing 28% of smartphones sold in the fourth quarter,” Guenveur added.

Sales for iOS smartphones grew 9% in GB, but decreased 27.1% in China

Despite the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Samsung managed to maintain a 28.5% share, down just 0.9% from the previous year. In the fourth quarter, the Galaxy S7 was the third best-selling smartphone, and sales aren’t expected to be impacted by Samsung’s decision to delay the launch of the Galaxy S8.

In Great Britain, Android accounted for 50.6% of all smartphone sales, compared to 47.6%  for iOS. Android slightly decreased from 51.9% in Q4 2015, while iOS managed to grow 9%. It seems that Brits have stayed loyal to the iPhone, as 96% of them replaced their phones with another device from Apple.

More than 50% of iPhone 7 buyers upgraded from the iPhone 6, while Android customers bought OnePlus, Alcatel and Google smartphones. HTC, Sony and LG recorded drops in Great Britain. Android dominates the market in China with 80.7% of smartphone sales in Q4, compared to 19.2% for iOS. For Apple, iPhone 7 was the top-selling model in Q4 with a 6.8% share, but sales were lower than for last year’s iPhone 6s, which accounted for 10.5% of all iPhone sales.