Moto G Fuels Motorola’s Return To Relevancy In The UK

The launch of the Moto G has once again made Motorola Mobility relevant in the UK smartphone market, according to latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which show that the soon-to-be Lenovo subsidiary’s share has jumped from close to nothing to six percent in the three months leading up to February 2014.

The low-cost Moto G was launched late last year and analysts say it is targeting a very specific demographic, benefiting from the fact that British consumers are becoming increasingly tech-savvy.

Almost half of Moto G owners are aged between 16 and 24, while 83 percent are male and 40 percent earn less than £20,000. Dominic says cheaper smartphones have had similar impact in other countries and consumers and increasingly relying on online reviews to make decisions.

Moto G success

“Motorola was nowhere in Europe before the Moto G launched in November last year,” he says. “It highlights the speed at which a quality budget phone can disrupt a market.  The same pattern can be seen in France with Wiko, which has 8.3 percent share, and Xiaomi in China with 18.5 percent.

“Consumers are far more tech savvy than they were just a few years ago and the rising commoditisation of smartphones means we increasingly rely on online views and handset cost to drive our decision making.

“Some 40 percent of British consumers are heavily influenced by internet reviews when deciding which mobile to buy and 48% of Moto G sales were made online. With virtually no existing customers to sell to in Britain, the Moto G has stolen significant numbers of low-mid end customers from Samsung and Nokia Lumia.”

Motorola’s success was unable to prevent Android’s UK market share from falling from 58.3 prcent last year to 54 percent, although it remains the dominant platform. Apple’s iOS is second with 32.1 percent, up from 29 percent, while Windows Phone remains third with 10.1 percent, up from 6.7 percent.

LG’s American dream

Android is also the biggest operating system in Europe, while in the US it has won back some of the share gained by Apple as a result of the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C during the previous three months.

This was partly due to the success of LG, which now controls eight percent of the US market, and is seeing its growth  fuelled by high-end smartphones such as the LG G2, whereas previously it had relied on mid-range handsets.

“The LG G2 marks a significant change in direction for LG, now aiming squarely towards the top end of the market,” adds Sunnebo. “Customer recommendation figures for the past three months show the LG G2 has the highest rating of any new handset at 9.2 out of 10, followed by the iPhone 5S at 9.1 and Samsung Galaxy Note III at 9.0.

“User advocacy is hugely important in mobile and this is great news to help LG maintain its momentum. Selling phones is one thing, getting your buyers to help you sell even more is another.”

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