Report: Apple faces challenges in gaining smartphone sales market share from LG, Sony and Nokia

Apple’s share of smartphone sales continued to grow month on month for the three months to November 2013 following the release of its flagship iPhone 5s and the lower-cost 5c in September. However, despite the gains, its share in most major markets is lower than at the same time last year, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. 

Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar, notes that “resurgent performances from LG, Sony and Nokia have made making year on year share gains increasingly challenging for Apple.” For example, Windows Phone is now the third-largest operating system across Europe with a 10 percent market share, more than double that compared with last year — though its progress in the world’s two largest smartphone markets remains stubbornly slow, with market share stuck at 4.7 percent in the US and 2.7 percent in China.

In Japan though, Apple now accounts for a majority share of 69.1 percent. It takes 43.1 percent in the US, 35 percent in Australia and 30.6 percent in the UK — all slightly down compared to the same time last year.

Thumbnail image via Mario Tama/AFP/Getty Images