Apple's iOS platform continued a
streak of strong growth in both the US and China, according to new ComScore and Canalys report issued yesterday, taking share away from Android. However, while still seeing extraordinary growth in China, surges in shipments from native Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi and Huawei meant that Apple was
knocked to third place in Chinese market share, having briefly captured the top spot.
Apple's recent growth in China is even more notable when considering that the country remains a major market for "feature" phones and low-end smartphones, which frequently serve as a user's sole connection to the Internet. Huawei managed a 48 percent increase in shipments in the June quarter, the fastest expansion of any maker, and moved up to second place with 15.7 percent share, beaten only by Xiaomi, which managed a 15.9 percent share for the quarter.
Apple's share was unmentioned, but it slipped from first to third place in the most recent quarter, reports Canalys. Despite this, sales in China overall were up 112 percent year-over-year.
Behind Apple's third-place finish were Korea-based Samsung and another China-based maker, Vivo. In part due to sales growth in China and other developing regions, Apple recently moved into the second spot in the list of top global cellphone manufacturers, despite making only high-end smartphones.
In the US, market research by ComScore through the end of May suggests that Apple is continuing to take share away from Android, though Google's platform retains the top spot. Overall sales of Android in the US dropped 0.7 percent in the June quarter to 52.1 percent share of shipments, while Apple moved up nearly two full percentage points for the third quarter in a row, from 41.7 percent to 43.5 percent. Apple also retained the top spot as the best-selling individual smartphone vendor, though Samsung was able to gain a tenth of a percentage point in the latest rankings.
As in previous quarters, Apple's gain came entirely from losses from its competitors. In addition to Android's overall 0.7 drop, Microsoft an BlackBerry each fell 0.5 percent. Microsoft's Windows Phone platform now accounts for three percent of US marketshare, while BlackBerry is down to 1.3 percent. Among the top five smartphone makers, only Apple saw notable growth -- Samsung essentially remained flat at with 0.1 percent growth, while LG, Motorola, and HTC all lost share.
Top