Google's Android continues to dominate iOS around the world in most major markets, according to recent Kantar Worldpanel numbers, and Samsung's Galaxy S5 seems to be attracting some former Apple heads.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 had its first full month of sales in Europe in May, and the success of the handset should be encouraging. Among Galaxy S5 purchasers in the major European markets of Britain, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy, 17 percent were previous iPhone owners while 58 percent were already Samsung owners. In Britain, the Galaxy S5 was the third-best selling smartphone for the month of May, lagging behind the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C even though the Apple handsets released last year.
"The Samsung Galaxy S5 has had some success in attracting former iPhone owners across Europe. In general, consumers buying the Galaxy S5 were primarily attracted by its large screen size. This is something Apple is likely to address with the rumored larger screen iPhone 6 launch expected in late September," said Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
"In the USA the Samsung Galaxy S5 was the second highest selling smartphone in May just behind the iPhone 5S. However, at a total brand level Samsung claimed the top spot with 36.8% of sales versus 32.5% for Apple over the past three months. Apple loyalty is high in the US, with former iPhone owners making up just 8% of Galaxy S5 sales. The majority of those switching to Samsung were LG and HTC users."
Android captured the five big European markets with an overall market share of 73.3 percent while iOS followed with 16.6 percent. Windows came in third with 8.1 percent. In Britain the numbers between Android and iOS as of May 14 were 60.2 percent to 29.4 percent. In Germany, Android captured a whopping 80.9 percent versus iOS's 12.1 percent and in Spain Android dug even deeper with an 87 percent market share against iOS's 6.2 percent. Apple had a bit more luck in France, where iOS was able to snag 19.4 percent of the market, but Android still came out on top with 66.2 percent. The narrative is similar in Italy, where Android garnered 75.5 percent to iOS's 12.5 percent.
South America also continues to favor Android. In Argentina, Android's market share rose to 77.3 percent from 74.7 percent the month before and iOS dwindled from 1.6 percent to 0.6 percent. Brazil shows a similar palette, with Android's smartphone OS market share sitting at 87 percent against iOS's 3.5 percent.
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