Smartphones to account for half of UK mobile market next year

Written by Antony Leather

July 11, 2011 | 12:12

Tags: #android #ios #smartphone

Companies: #apple #bit-tech #htc

We're just a year away from smartphones accounting for more than half of UK mobile owners, according to figures reported by The Guardian.

According to sales data the year on year increase of smartphone ownership (around 2.5 per cent since April 2010) will see the tipping point occur in 12 months time.

At that point, more people will own smartphones than the so-called feature or dumb phones.

Android-based smartphones are the main culprits for the continuing surge in smartphone sales, apparently. Nearly three quarters of Android sales in the UK are made up of users upgrading to smartphones for the first time.

Less than two per cent of Android sales came from people switching from the likes of the iPhone. Android users have surpassed those of Nokia's soon to be end-of-life Symbian operating system in Spain, while significant chunks of RIM and iPhone users have also migrated from Symbian.

Apple, meanwhile, has failed to capitalise on the huge increase in the market in the last 12 months - despite making huge headway in its userbase it's total market share fell from 30.6 per cent to 18.3 per cent as the smartphone market increased as a whole.

Perhaps the most interesting facts surround first-time purchases; many first time smartphone owners that have opted for cheaper models will be prepared to spend more on their second purchase and are also more likely to switch brands. After this, they quickly become fearsomely loyal, with Android owners favouring the OS, with Apple owners not wanting to relinquish their app purchases.

What do you make of the news? Have you swapped between makes or operating systems recently? Let us know in the forum.
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