R
Rich Edmonds
Kantar WorldPanel has released figures for the three months running up to April 2014, which show an increase in the number of manufactures competing for the top spots in the European smartphone market. The report also shows Android remaining in the lead when it comes to overall shares of the smartphone market. Google has 70 percent in the five big European markets and 51 percent in the US. While iOS retains a comfortable second place across the board, Windows Phone still climbs steadily as the underdog.
One of the larger beneficiaries of this latest report regarding manufacturers is Huawei, which experienced a steep hike of 123 percent in the big five European markets over the past year. Over in China, local vendor Xiaomi outsold Samsung for the second time in April, with its RedMi device proving to be the popular choice among local consumers in that region.
Samsung has almost caught up with Apple in the USA, with market shares of 34.1 percent and 34.6 percent respectively. The growth of Android also brings fragmentation with multiple manufacturers attempting to compete for the top spot in Europe, the US and Asia. The platform war itself is starting to heat up with Microsoft closing the gap on Apple's iOS with hopes that Windows Phone 8.1 will solve the majority of its flaws.
There aren't any drastic changes through the last three months, but do check out the full report over on Kantar for more details.
Source: Kantar
Continue reading...