Brits like their Android. In the United Kingdom, Android phones are outselling the iPhone by a factor of two to one, according to analytical firm Kantar Worldpanel Comtech. Android phones outsold all iPhone models for July, August and September. Smartphones themselves are booming in The UK, with 70% of all mobile sales being smartphones of one kind or another.

49.9 percent of all the smartphones sold in the territory over the 12 week period were running Android, compared to just an 18.5 percent share for the iPhone. The Blackberry platform hasn’t fallen from grace so dramatically in the UK, and has 22.5 percent of the market. According to Kantar Worldpanel Comtech’s estimate, 43.8 percent of the UK population owns a smartphone, meaning that almost a full quarter of the population owns an Android phone.

Caveats: this data doesn’t include the iPhone 4S, which will certainly spike the numbers in iOS’s favor for a few weeks. It also doesn’t represent an accurate picture of the mobile OS market as a whole ,as it doesn’t include iPods or iPads, or the small number of Android tablets out there. Apple is still kicking backside when it comes to mobile browsing – Safari has captured an impressive 62.2% of all mobile browsing, incorporating all iPhone, iPod and iPad models in the UK and elsewhere. Also, Android manufacturers typically report in terms of units shipped, not sold – Apple has an advantage there since a lot of their sales are direct to consumers.

Still, any way you slice it, Android is continuing to dominate in the smartphone arena. Here’s hoping that Ice Cream Sandwich will continue the trend when the Galaxy Nexus lands at the White Cliffs of Dover on November 17th.

9 COMMENTS

  1. So for every two Android phones sold by a variety of Android manufacturers, one iPhone is sold.

    Um, how is this bad news for Apple? It sounds like a lot of iPhones are being sold, and Apple is continuing to make a huge profit and control a large share of the smartphone market, while Android device makers scramble for profits against each other.

    • It’s important from the developer perspective.  As more and more of the total market becomes Android handsets, that will motivate developers to develop first for Android and then port to ios instead of the other way around, like it is now.  This is important because smartphones are mobile computing platforms.  The likely trend is for the mobile space to evolve along the same lines as the desktop space did.  As Microsoft dominates the desktop, all software is written for Windows first, then, if it all, ported to Mac.  This is what Apple is hoping to prevent.  This way the ios platform looks more attractive/innovative to consumers.  That’s what this is all really about. 

      • that will motivate developers to develop first for Android and then port to ios instead of the other way around, like it is now

        Oh, I’m sorry. Are Android owners now buying apps the way iOS owners are? I must’ve missed that bit of news…

        The likely trend is for the mobile space to evolve along the same lines as the desktop space did.

        Oh really? Are tablets part of this ‘mobile space’? If so, the iPad is dominating, and the Fire is selling like hotcakes, and true Android devices are dead on arrival. Also, Apple has 52% of the handheld industry profits ( http://www.theverge.com/apple/2011/11/5/2540133/apple-52-percent-handheld-industry-profit ). Does Apple have 52% of the profits in the PC arena?

        Because to me it doesn’t seem likely at all that the mobile market resembles the PC market. Apple is making the lion’s share of profits (which won’t change as their marketshare grows, and they continue to stay above the price cutting of their competitors), Apple users are buying the lion’s share of apps (and thereby attracting developers because of the buying+advertising power), and the iPad will continue to be unmatched, even after the arrival of the Fire, which spells doom for all Android tablets that haven’t hooked up with a few content provider (note the B&N, which has hooked up with Hulu).

        In other words, Apple is dominating. And developers will continue writing iOS apps first.

  2. The bad news is not in the comparative volume as it is in the trend. Slowly Android is claiming most first spots and it seems Samsung is outselling Apple (given apple sells 3GS, 4, and 4S). The trend is straight up and new devices are coming out all the time while the 4S was not much of an upgrade and the next iPhone is a year away. 

  3. Um, well it’s hardly surprising is it when there are about 100 Android phones and 3(?) models of iPhone (in this report).. What a pointless article lol

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