"Survey Says: Samsung Leads in Europe; Apple Only Relevant in UK and US"

Samsung Galaxy S3

A recent market study reveals that Samsung–along with Android–continue to dominate the smartphone market, which puts added pressure from Apple to “wow” the consumers with the launch of its new handset next month.

The survey from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech covers millions of interviews with consumers on a monthly basis, showing that Samsung remains the top-selling smartphone brand in Europe as of July 2012. Samsung’s success is partly because of its successful launch of the Galaxy S3 last May, as well as aggressive pricing in a region mired with economic pressures.

Samsung reaches 45% of all smartphone sales in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Meanwhile, Apple accounts for just 16% of all sales in the same region. Kantar also notes that Apple suffers from a downward trend, except in the UK and United States.

Android continues to dominate across the so-called “Big Five” in Europe with a combined 66% share, a significant increase from 43% last year. Android is also the mobile OS of choice in Australia at 60.5%, while it holds the slight majority in the US with just 51.5%.

Despite Android’s dominance, it actually declined in the US. It’s 51.5% market share is actually a decrease of 5.3% from last year.

Apple blames its lackluster performance in Europe over the continent’s struggling economy and people holding off on purchases until the new iPhone is released. Thus, Apple suffers between 4.3 and 11.4 percent sales slump across the Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.

But Apple can thank its lucky stars that it continues to gain traction across two key markets: the US and UK. Apple’s sales in the US went up by 9.5% from last year, grabbing a 38.2% share in the market. It was not as strong in the UK, but its 2-percent increase make Apple a key player in the market with 22.9%.

Source: TechCrunch