Android Best Seller, iPhone 2nd, Nokia Lumia Windows/BlackBerry Grow

Android is over half (51.7%) of the smartphone sales market reported Kantar World Pane for three months ending April 2013, A.

iOS stayed in second place with 41.4% of smartphone sales, while Windows’ smartphone sales share remained at 5.6% - growing over the last year by 1.8% points. BlackBerry grew over last year at AT&T with 1.9% over 1% in 2012.

Smartphone Sales Growth by Carrier

  • Verizon is the in lead with 36.3% of smartphones sold (1.8% points increase.)
  • AT&T, in second place, remains stable at 26.3%.
  • Sprint Nextel with 13.1% of smartphones sold (1.4% points increase).
  • T-Mobile declined to 11.3%.

Smartphone Us End AprilNew Window on Smartphone World Towards Younger Crowd

Windows Phone is growing.  Many of those who purchased a Windows device in the last year, 42% came from a feature phone , 25% from another Windows device and 23% from Android.

In 2011 and 2012 Windows was bought by older consumers aged 50-64. In 2012 and 2013, Windows is now gaining share among those aged 25-34. Nokia’s Lumia devices were the key models driving success for the Windows OS.

Apple ruled at A&T where it was 58.8% of sales (64.1 in 2012), followed by Android (33.7 %), Windows(4.7%)  and BlackBerry (1.9%).

At Verizon Android was at 47.4%, followed by iPhone 45.4% and Windows Phone 6.8%.

Samsung, LG & Sony Big in Europe

In the U.K. It was a different story In Germany, the Samsung Galaxy SIII handset took 23.5% of all smartphone sales in the latest three months, compared with just 4.7% in Spain.

The increasing desire for handsets costing under €150 in Spain and Italy has helped Sony and LG to drive serious share gains. In Spain, Sony has a 19% share and LG is up to 17% from just 3% the previous year. Their growths in share have primarily been driven by entry level handsets such as the Sony Xperia U and LG Optimus L3/L5 models.

ComTech tracks ng purchasing of phones, mobile phone bills/airtime, and source of purchase and phone usage. This data is exclusively focused on the sales within this 3 month period rather than market share figures.

Previous Kantar reports showed a big lead in Samsung Galaxy sales.

"Samsung’s success may be attributed to the fact that they are strong across market factors – from having a widely distributed product across carriers and retailers through to strong marketing and in-store sales training initiatives. Samsung has all the successful elements from brand availability, discounts (seen to be driving growth for carriers such as Sprint) and the right placement across retailers, which is why we continue to see Samsung grow in the market." said analyst Mary-Ann Parlato.