New Samsung Devices Push Android Share To New High

Android has cemented its position as Europe’s leading mobile operating system with its manufacturer partners recording their strongest sales for two years, according to industry analysts Kantar Worldpanel.

Google’s mobile OS was present on 75.6 percent of smartphone sold during the three months leaduing up to March 2016 in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain – a 7.1 percent increase from the previous period,

Android also reported similarly strong gains across the crucial US and Chinese markets.

All-new

Kantar suggested that the release of several big-name smartphones was a significant factor behind Android’s continued dominance.

This includes Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones, which although they were only available for a few weeks during the period still managed to contribute significantly to Android’s total sales figure.

Kantar noted that major discounts for Samsung’s previous flagship device, the Galaxy S6, also helped push up sales preceding the launch of the Galaxy S7.

iOS share declined across the major European markets from 20.2 percent to 18.9 percent in the three-month period, ensuring it maintained second place overall.

There was worse news for Windows Phone, where sales dropped five percentage points to record 4.9 percent of overall European smartphone sales. The figures revealed that nearly seven percent of new Android customers migrated from Microsoft’s system, and 3.3 percent from having previously used Apple’s iOS.

“For those switching from Windows, Android has offered a better user experience, with a variety of brands and models across a multitude of price points,” said Dominic Sunnebo, business unit director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe.

Google has revealed several previews of the next edition of Android, codenamed Android N, which is set to be revealed later this year at the company’s Google I/O event.

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