Kantar: Android Sales In Q4 Grew In All Big Markets, But Leader Samsung Now ...

Android continues to be the most popular mobile platform, with its share of smartphone sales climbing in every major market in Q4 2013 and now standing as high as 69% in markets like Europe, according to figures out today from Kantar Worldpanel, a market research subsidiary of WPP. But the story is shifting when it comes to looking at what the engine is behind that growth.

Samsung, the handset maker that has led the charge for Google's OS, is "now coming under real pressure in most regions" as it faces stronger competition from local players in markets like China (where Xiaomi led in sales for the quarter).

Elsewhere, although Apple has seen overall declines - in every market tracked by Kantar, in fact - its new iPhone 5 models continue to lure in users at the high end, and in key markets like the U.S., where it lost nearly 6% of sales on a year ago but still accounted for just under 44% of smartphone purchases in the holiday period.

Kantar says the effect of competition on Samsung meant that the Korean OEM took 40.3% of sales across the big five markets in Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), down 2.2 percentage points. In the key market of China, Samsung accounted for only 23.7% of sales, flat compared to a year ago.

"It's no surprise that everyone is concentrating on high growth China, but currently local brands are proving clear winners," analyst Dominic Sunnebo writes. He says that in December, Xiaomi overtook both Apple and Samsung and is now the top selling smartphone in China, "a truly remarkable achievement for a brand which was only started in 2010 and sells its device almost exclusively online. The combination of high spec devices, low prices and an ability to create unprecedented buzz through online and social platforms has proved an irresistible proposition for the Chinese."

The decline in sales for Samsung, particularly for high margin devices, has been matched also by a decline in profit growth.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform continues to take a minor third position, but in contrast to Apple, it is in a continued phase of growth - with Latin America the only region where its sales declined compared to a year ago. Still, its share remains small, with its biggest market in terms of market share, Europe, flat on a year ago, taking 10% of all smartphone sales.

"Windows Phone has now held double digit share across Europe for three consecutive months," Sunnebo says. "Unfortunately for Nokia the European smartphone market is only growing at 3% year on year so success in this market has not been enough to turn around its fortunes - reflected in its recent disappointing results. Its performance also deteriorated toward the end of 2013 in the important growth markets of China, USA and Latin America."

More to come.