Apple may wish this was an April Fool’s joke, but new data released today from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Android has taken a lead in the U.S. market for smartphone sales for the quarter ended February 2013. The U.S. market has been a stronghold for Apple, which managed to maintain control of the market despite the growth of Android throughout other parts of the world. However, Kantar’s latest consumer panel, which focuses on sales, shows Android had 51.2% of smartphone sales for the period compared with 45.4% for the same period a year ago.
According to Kantar’s data, Apple’s iOS landed in second place with 43.5% of sales for the quarter, a decline of 3.5% from the 47% share Apple enjoyed for the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, even lowly Windows managed to improve to 4.1% of sales. In case you were wondering, Blackberry has sunk all the way to only 0.7% of sales for the February 2013 quarter.
Kantar’s analysis shows Samsung leading the way in sales, thanks in large part to price reductions, so much so that Sprint is starting to see its numbers impacted by the success of Samsung’s leading devices. Verizon is still the top carrier for all smartphones with AT&T in second place. Kantar’s research showed Samsung managed to entice buyers away from other brands, with 38% of buyers switching away from LG, HTC and Blackberry devices. Despite Samsung’s success in this area, brands like Motorola and Nokia saw small increases in their sales. Among Samsung buyers, Kantar found “handset cost” and “carrier brand” to be the leading factors in the decision-making process.
Kantar believes the sales share figures are a leading indicator for market share trends, which means Android may be seeing more good news in the future.
source: Kantar Worldpanel
via: BGR
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