Buoyed By Record Breaking iPhone 6 Sales, Apple Grows Market Share In U.S., China

It was always assumed (outside of Cupertino, anyway) that if Apple released a bigger size iPhone model to compete with large screen Android devices, it would be a huge hit. Well, that notion was proven right when Apple launched its 4.7-inch iPhone 6 (1334x750; 326 ppi) and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus (1920x1080; 401 ppi) models, which combined to break sales records. Those flurry of initial sales weren't just a knee jerk reaction, either -- Kantar Worldpanel ComTech notes that the latest smartphone sales data for the three months ending November 2014 shows that the impact of the iPhone 6 launch continued in the run up to Christmas.

According to KWC's number nerds, iOS grew is market share in all surveyed countries save for Japan.

"While remaining the dominant global OS, Android’s market share dropped in most European markets and in the U.S. where the decline was the first since September 2013," said Carolina Milanesi, Chief of Research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "A decline in Android market share does not necessarily translate into bad news for all the ecosystem’s players. The choice of brands and devices within the ecosystem empowers consumers to drive different fortunes for the players in it."

iPhone 6 Plus

Here in the U.S., the iPhone 6 trumped all other handsets in sales in the three months through November, snagging 19 percent of smartphone sales. And including its previous models, Apple reached 47.4 percent of sales, up 4.3 percent from the same period in 2013.

Apple also saw gains in China, though not as pronounced. Its sales jumped 1.1 percent, bringing the company's total share in China's smartphone market to 18.1 percent. Those figures could have been higher, had it not been for the recent success of Xiaomi, which "remains the biggest contributor to Android's success" in China.