Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director comments: “The October launch of the hugely anticipated iPhone 4S has catapulted Apple into second place among operating systems based on the last 12 weeks of sales. However, if you just look at the month of October, Apple took a whopping 42.8% share of all smartphone sales, giving it a significant lead over Android (which accounted for 35%) - a feat many thought was impossible.
“With nearly a year and a half between iPhone launches there has been huge pent up demand for a new Apple device. We have previously seen that Apple customers tend to be very loyal to the brand. However, it is still astonishing that 75% of new iPhone 4S owners previously owned an iPhone.
“Most of these loyalists tended to own previous generation devices such as the 3G or 3GS models. However, 14% previously owned an iPhone 4, demonstrating that quite a few people bought themselves out of their contracts to get hold of the 4S. Clearly the upgraded processor, camera and unveiling of SIRI assistant was enough to generate excitement among the Apple community.”
Smartphones made up 69.8% of sales over the 12 weeks, meaning that 44.8% of the British population now owns a smartphone.
Sunnebo continues: “While unwavering loyalty is clearly great news for Apple, it is likely to be a relief for other smartphone operators. With Apple predominantly driving sales from within its existing customer base, it leaves the field wide open for the likes of Nokia, BlackBerry, Samsung and HTC to focus on converting the remaining 29 million adults who don’t yet have a smartphone to their brand.”