Kantar: iOS overtakes Android as most popular mobile platform in the US

For the first time since the end of 2012, Apple’s iOS platform leads the way in terms of mobile OS market share in the US, according to the most recent figures from Kantar’s WorldPanel ComTech report for the last three months of 2014.

According to the figures, iOS had 47.7 percent of the market with Android on 47.6 percent. That’s a pretty darn fine margin – just 0.1 percent – but it suggests that Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launches last year are being received well around the world. According to the report, the second most popular device (behind the iPhone 6) in the US was the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Beyond the US?

Outside of the US, Android market share declined by 3.8 percent in Europe to 66.1 percent overall, while Apple enjoyed average growth of 6.2 percent in the region. Most impressively, Apple gained an additional 13.1 percent of the market in Great Britain in comparison to this time last year.

“Italy was the only European market where Android grew,” Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe, said. “Considering the strong pre-pay market and the wider direct channel it is not a surprise that Android products – with their value for money proposition – continue to appeal to Italian consumers.”

While Q4 2014 perhaps wasn’t a stellar performance for Android, Windows Phone devices saw a worse time of it, and “continued to struggle in the latest period, recording minimal growth only in France and Germany.”

No doubt Microsoft is hoping that the introduction of Windows 10 for mobile devices will help turn that around.

➤ Apple iOS leads US OS share for the first time since Q4 2012 [Kantar Worldpanel]