Android continues European smartphone domination

The Android platform continues to dominate the European smartphone market, according to the latest data from research house Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Google’s mobile OS has increased its market share by 20.2 per cent over the past year and now holds two-thirds of the smartphone market.

The popularity of Android handsets has risen steadily in the build up to Apple’s iPhone 5 release, which is expected to be unveiled next week, while Windows has managed to maintain its five per cent share despite a raft of new Windows 8 products being announced. However, Microsoft’s success has been achieved through heavy discounting, according to the research firm.

The US smartphone market largely mimicked the trends in Europe, where Android held 55.9 per cent of the market share, although this was 4.5 per cent less than the 60.4 per cent market share that the platform held in the same quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, Spain was the market where Android was most dominant, recording a huge 86.8 per cent of market share.

The Symbian platform continued its steady decline worldwide, most noticeably in Brazil, where it saw its 71.7 per cent market share in 2011 drop to just 22 per cent over the course of the year.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s data also revealed that handsets with bigger screens are becoming significantly more popular, with 29 per cent of the Android devices sold in the past 12 weeks having a screen size of over 4.5 inches.

“It is interesting to look at the impact a larger screen size has on how consumers use their smartphones, particularly as the line between tablets and smartphones becomes more blurred,” said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at the research firm.

“Consumers who own a smartphone with a larger screen tend to be much more engaged with their device across a whole array of functions.  For example, only 19 per cent of consumers with a screen smaller than three inches download and watch videos, compared to 65 per cent when the screen is five inches or more.”

Sunnebo added that bigger screens don’t just lead to an improved consumer experience; they also play a key part in customer retention.

“ComTech data shows that the more engaged consumers are with their device, the more likely they are to stay loyal to an OS or brand when they upgrade.”

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OS (Operating System) Share – Smartphone Sales (Key European Markets):

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