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iPhone X Sales Were 'Stellar' in Several Countries During First Month of Availability

Wednesday January 10, 2018 4:55 am PST by Mitchel Broussard
Kantar Worldpanel's newest smartphone OS data details the "stellar" performance of the iPhone X in multiple markets around the world during November, amid an overall "mixed performance" for iOS devices from September to November 2017. While Apple's piece of the smartphone ecosystem fell in Great Britain, the United States, Japan, and Australia, the company saw ongoing growth in urban China during this period.

Specifically, iOS dropped 3.8 percentage points in the U.S. when compared to the year-ago period, resulting in a total smartphone OS sales share of 39.8 percent. In the U.S., Android grew 4 percentage points to capture 59.4 percent of the smartphone OS market.


Kantar noted that in the U.S. the iPhone X was outsold by the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in November, coming in third and helping Apple capture the three top spots for the best-selling smartphone models that month. The researchers said that Apple "easily" beat Samsung's Galaxy S8, which landed at sixth place.

In China, Kantar said that iOS "continues to impress" with a growth of 4.6 percentage points from the previous year and sitting at 24.3 percent of the smartphone OS market in the country. At the same time, Android fell 4.6 percentage points, but it still owns 75.5 percent of the smartphone OS share in China.


Kantar Worldpanel global director Dominic Sunnebo explained that Apple's growth in China during this period was helped by "staggering" demand for the iPhone X, despite its high price tag, and came from users who were mostly switching sides from rival smartphone makers.
“Apple was riding on the back of some momentum before the iPhone X release but demand for latest model in urban China has been staggering given its price point.

“Apple is now back on form – the iPhone X was the top selling model in urban China in November, with a market share of 6.0%. Unlike in Europe and the US, where the vast majority of new early iPhone X sales came from existing Apple smartphone owners, in urban China there are significant numbers of Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung customers switching to the new iPhone models, which they deem a cut above the rest.”
Despite an overall percentage point loss for Apple in Great Britain from September to November (down 4.2 points), Kantar said that for the month of November only, "Apple achieved its highest share in more than three years." The company reached 49.4 percent of the market in November thanks to iPhone X demand, beating out Samsung and "easily regaining" the number one sales spot for the month.

For most markets, Kantar wondered how long Apple will be able to keep its sales momentum going with the smartphone's high price tag. Numerous reports in recent weeks have discussed the same topic, with analysts predicting "weakened demand" in Q1 2018 now that early adopters have received their iPhone X.

Tag: Kantar Worldpanel
[ 142 comments ]

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ahireasu
23 months ago
So when in 8 out of 10 countries your sales drop is stellar?
Rating: 38 Votes
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Mike MA
23 months ago

I love mine. I just wish it was bigger.


I heard people say that before in a different context.
Rating: 14 Votes
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one more
23 months ago

IMO, Apple doesn't think like that
To them Profits > Market Share

That's not to say they don't care at all about market share
But cash is king, and they are more concerned about making profit than saturating the market

But that's just me


And this, if true, is a worrying trend. As Steve Jobs once said:

“If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.”
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
mingravity
23 months ago
total sales m/e Nov
2016 = 312.4
2017 = ~298
2/10 countries +ve sales
why is the article so biased????

Baymowe335 ('https://forums.macrumors.com/members/baymowe335.1098461/') pointed my mistake that these were market shares. back to maths basics.
still 2/10 i reckon this article qualifies as biased.
Rating: 10 Votes
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one more
23 months ago
To improve the market share Apple needs to wake up to the fact that a regular person needing a smartphone could be quite happy with a wide variety of Android handsets falling within the price bracket below 300$. There is just a bunch of hard core Apple fans who are ready to shell out over a 1000$ for a phone that will be outdated the following year. iPhone, after all, is merely a useful object, not a piece of art that gains extra value with time.
Rating: 9 Votes
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69Mustang
23 months ago

Just to be clear, Steve was never focused on market share
Not with the Mac
Not with the iPhone

Quality products - YES
Profits - YES
Market Share - not so much

This is wrong and revisionist. Jobs did care about market share. He cared about it as a part of an encompassing vision for success. He understood where it played a part. But don't take my word for it. Take his. Relevant portion from 38 min to 43 min. Fair warning, you'll probably end up wanting to hear everything he said. [MEDIA=youtube]M6Oxl5dAnR0[/MEDIA]
Rating: 7 Votes
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jmh600cbr
23 months ago
I love mine. I just wish it was bigger.
Rating: 7 Votes
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imran5720
23 months ago

I love mine. I just wish it was bigger.

i am glad i skipped it and going to get next year plus size
Rating: 7 Votes
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Sir Ruben
23 months ago
To be expected it is a superb product (price aside).
Rating: 6 Votes
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citysnaps
23 months ago
Still stoked with mine. An excellent phone whose use has become second nature. Much easier to use than my TouchID 6+ and iPad.
Rating: 6 Votes

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