iOS overtakes Android in US sales

Apple’s iPhone has been revealed to have overtaken Android sales in the key market of the United States of America for the first time since 2012.

With the introduction of the iPhone 6, Apple has been selling record numbers of its older and newer model smartphones in the last few months, and according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, it has now beaten a rival in the US market.

Android's share of the US smartphone market fell 3.8 per cent in the three months to December, while Apple iOS' rose by the same amount.

iOS now holds 47.7 per cent of the US sector compared to Android's 47.6 per cent, leaving just 0.1 per cent between the two systems.

This change according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the market research division of WPP, is the first in three years.

“In the US, Apple iOS overtook Android for the first time since this time in 2012, albeit by the slimmest 0.1% margin. While the success of the iPhone 6 and 6Plus is unprecedented, this quarter’s performance also points to Apple having its strongest portfolio ever. With a range of devices available at different price points in both contract and pre-pay, Apple was able to take advantage of a weaker Android offering at the premium end of the market,” writes Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The news comes in the wake of Apple's record-breaking financial fourth quarterly results; the largest ever reported by a company. The American multinational corporation sold 74.5 million iPhones during the period, the equivalent to 34,000 an hour.

It didn’t end in America alone, Android also witnessed declines in other big markets.

In the big five EU markets, Android’s overall share was down by 3.8 percentage points, the same decline as in the US.

Notably, in the UK, Apple saw its strongest gain against Android, picking up 13.1 percentage points while Android dropped 7.5 percentage points, with iPhone 6 becoming the best-selling smartphone in Britain with 20% of all smartphones sales (the Galaxy S5 came at a distant second with 8%).