Apple Sets Record High With 53,5% Share Of U.S. Smartphone Market

In late November, research company Kantar Worldpanel reported that strong debut of the iPhone 5 allowed Apple to retake the lead in the U.S. sales from Android. Over the August-October timeframe, Apple's share of the market was assessed at 48.1% compared to Android's share of 46.7%.

At the time, the company predicted that IOS share would continue to increase and Apple would hit a record high for market share on the strength of iPhone 5 sales over the following two 12-week periods.

Today Kantar Worldpanel released its sales data for September-November window showing that Apple indeed gain a record 53.3% market share. Last year Apple took 35.8% of the market in the same timeframe, although the company did not launch the iPhone 4S until later in the corresponding period.

Kantar Worldpanel’s global consumer insight director Dominic Sunnebo said:

“Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December.”

However, Apple continues to have less success in Europe, where it retains 25,3% of the market with 2,5% growth year-over-year, while Android holds 61% share of the market with the growth of 9,2% compared to previous year.

Among the market that are tracked by the research firm, Apple’s best performance was in the U.S., while the worst performances were in Spain, Australia, Brazil and Italy.