The iPhone already had a record fourth quarter, selling 74.5 million units. Now it looks like that total was enough to outsell all Android OEMs combined in the U.S.
According to new numbers from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple’s flagship captured 47.7 percent of the U.S. market and jumped out to a slim lead over Android’s 47.6 percent share. The study says this is the first time iOS has outsold Android since the same time in 2012.
“While the success of the iPhone 6 and 6Plus is unprecedented, this quarter’s performance also points to Apple having its strongest portfolio ever. With a range of devices available at different price points in both contract and pre-pay Apple was able to take advantage of a weaker Android offering at the premium end of the market,” Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement.
The same study for December 2014 awarded Windows Phone a 3.8 percent share and BlackBerry a 0.3 percent share, with 0.6 percent share left over for the remaining smartphone operating systems.
With its slim victory over Android Apple also scored the best-selling smartphone during the quarter with the iPhone 6, which beat out the second-place Samsung Galaxy S5.
In China, Kantar says Apple was able to grow its share year-over-year from 19 percent to 21.5 percent. Xiaomi remained the highest-selling OEM in China and helped Android gather a 77 percent share of the market.
Across Europe, Kanter says Android’s share fell 3.8 percent annually to 66.1 percent and iOS rose 6.2 percent.
