Android's share of the urban China market in the three months ending February 2017 was more than at any time in the previous year, with 86.4% of smartphone sales, compared to 77.1% in the corresponding period for the previous year.
Data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech showed that the Android share in Europe's big five markets - the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy - rose slightly, from 74.3% to 75.2%.
But in the US, the story was different with Android sales falling from 58.9% to 55.9%, marking another period of decline that began in the second quarter of 2016.
Apple's iOS accounted for 42% of smartphones sold in the US, up 3.7 percentage points from 38.3% in the previous year. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus continued to be the top-selling smartphones in the US where they have led since the three months ending November 2016.
{loadposition sam08}There were hopes that Google Pixel might soften the drop in Android sales that typically occurs around an iPhone launch.
Of the US consumers intending to buy a smartphone over the next six months, 23% indicated that they would consider a Pixel.
However, Pixel was yet to surpass 2% of smartphone sales, in part because of supply constraints.
"Android has achieved continuous growth in China since last February, with its strongest year-on-year gains coming in the three months ending February 2017, when its share rose 9.3 percentage points,” said Lauren Guenveur, consumer insight director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
“As we’ve seen in the past, this was due to a strong sales period around Chinese New Year, which is always a busy promotional season, particularly for local brands. Huawei, Oppo, Meizu, Vivo, and 360 all posted year-on-year growth.”
Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia, said: “In the three-month period ending February 2017, iOS accounted for 13.2% of smartphone sales in urban China, a decline of 8.9 percentage points from 22.1% a year earlier.
"This marks iOS’ lowest share since the three-month period ending July 2014. That said, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remained the top-selling devices in the region, accounting for 8% of smartphone sales. By comparison, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus accounted for 14% of smartphone sales in the three months ending February 2016.”