Apple overtakes Samsung in smartphone sales, as Nokia Windows Phones rise

Android, BlackBerry and Samsung all see losses

Nokia's Windows Phone and Apple have both seen their share of the smartphone market increase over the past year, with Android and BlackBerry losing ground in the British market.

According to the latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple iOS handsets accounted for 32.1 percent of the market in Great Britain (GB) from 1 December 2013 to 28 February 2014. This is a three percent leap from the same period the previous year. Windows Phone also enjoyed an increase from 6.7 percent to 10.1 percent over the same timeframe.

BlackBerry and Android did not fare so well. The Google mobile platform saw the biggest drop across GB, falling by four percent. However, it is still the most widely used mobile operating system in the UK, with 54 percent of the smartphone market down from 58.3 percent last year.

BlackBerry lost almost two percent of its market share, down from 5.1 percent to 3.4 percent.

The GB statistics are at odds with those seen in other parts of Europe. Across Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain, Android has increased its dominance to 68.9 percent, up two percent, while Apple iOS dropped two percent down to 19 percent market share.

On the device side, it was a similar picture. Apple and BlackBerry devices saw the same increase as their platform sales, while Nokia enjoyed growth of four percent from a 5.6 to 9.6 percent share of the smartphone device market.

Sony and Motorola also saw increases, up from 5.5 to 8.9, and from one to 5.9 respectively, no doubt helped by their popular Xperia and Moto G handsets. The news was less rosy for Samsung, which dropped by almost seven percent to a 30.2 percent share - falling below Apple - and for HTC, which fell five percent down to a four percent share.

Despite the switch between Apple and Samsung, the drop for Android and the rise of Windows Phone, Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, was most excited by the jump for Motorola over the period, which he put down to its latest low-cost Android handset.

"Motorola was nowhere in Europe before the Moto G launched in November last year, but the new model has since boosted the manufacturer to six percent of British sales," he pointed out.

"It highlights the speed at which a quality budget phone can disrupt a market."