Kantar: Apple Regained Ground in the First Quarter of 2014 [Chart]

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has Apple regaining some ground due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5s.

In Europe, Android remains the top OS with 70.7% of the market. Apple holds second with 19.2% and Windows comes in third with 8.1%.

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Apple regained ground in the first quarter of 2014, primarily due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5S, growing its sales share in Europe, Japan and Australia. By contrast, Windows had a tough start to the year as a result of its entry-level Nokia models facing fierce competition from low-end Motorola, LG and Samsung Android smartphones.”


Apple has been most successful in Japan, where it accounted for 42% of smartphone sales on NTT DoCoMo, 59% on KDDI AU and 81% on Softbank. Year over year its market share was up from 49% to 57.6%. The design of the iPhone (30%) remains the key draw for Japanese consumers, followed by its 4G capability (29%) and the belief that it will be reliable (24%). In addition, almost 25% of Japanese iPhone owners have an iPad.

Notably, Apple's share of the U.S. market dropped significantly year over year from 43.7% to 35.9%, a 7.8% drop. Italy also saw a drop of 7% and China saw a 5.4% drop.

Check out the chart below for more details...