The market share of iOS has decreased in many important countries and geographical areas on the planet, a study published today by Kantar revealing the fact that at the end of January, Apple's operating system had lost many percentage points to Android.
Great Britain, France, Italy, the USA, Australia and Japan are the countries where the iOS market share decreased in the three months ended at the end of January, Germany, Spain and China being the only countries where there was growth, this being insignificant compared to the losses.
In contrast, Android recorded increases in market share in almost all areas monitored by Kantar, the only exception being China, where Google's operating system registered a decrease of 0.3%.
Separated from iOS and Android, Windows Phone had a negative evolution for the most part, Great Britain being the only country where the market share of this operating system registered an increase, although it was small compared to the losses.
Looking at the three months individually, January was the weakest month for Apple in China as more price-sensitive consumers might have been waiting to see what promotions Chinese New Year would bring in early February. In the rest of the world, smartphone platform dynamics remained pretty stable period-over-period, with no surprises.
Apple expected iPhone sales to decline in Q1 2016, which includes January, and this preliminary data suggests that the estimates may come true, and Apple may announce its first decline in iPhone sales compared to a fiscal quarter of a previous year.
