This was published 6 years ago
Samsung drives Android growth as duopoly with Apple strengthens
By Tim Biggs
When it comes to smartphones, Australians are buying more Samsung devices compared to this time last year, and ever so slightly more iPhones, but less of almost everything else.
According to new figures from market share data provider Kantar Worldpanel, sales of phones not running either Android or iOS have shrunk to almost nothing in the last year, with Samsung carrying more than its fair share in leading growth for the Android side.
Samsung's most recent Galaxy devices saw it move more than half of all Android phones in the last three months. Credit: AP
Taking in the sales data for the three months ending in August, the figures indicate Android has surged on the back of new Galaxy handsets. Samsung phones made up 40.2 per cent of all phones sold in this time period in Australia, a big increase from 32.8 per cent in the same period last year. Android phones as a whole accounted for 65.5 per cent (up from 62.8 per cent). This means that sales of non-Samsung Android phones fell from 30 per cent of the market to 25.3 per cent.
The data is interesting in that it excludes sales of Apple's new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which were yet to release. Apple phones made up 33.9 per cent of all sales in the three months, an increase over last year's 33 per cent, indicating an interest in cut price iPhone 7 models ahead of new phones later in the year.
Taken together this data leaves less than one per cent for the retired Windows Mobile and other operating systems.
Outside of the heavy hitter space, many Android brands including Huawei, OPPO and Google made small increases, but it was two newcomers that stood out. Xiaomi and BBK's OnePlus each had virtually zero share at this time last year in Australia, but in the latest data sit at 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
Data from the UK and US shows a similar story, with Apple owning around a third of smartphone sales in the past three months and ceding around two thirds to Android devices as consumers awaited the arrival of Apple's new phones. The numbers skew much more heavily to Android in China and much of Europe, indicating that those not interested in the new Apple phones would prefer an Android device over last year's iPhone