Huawei becomes second biggest Android brand in Europe

Huawei has jumped ahead of Sony, HTC and Motorola to become the second biggest Android brand in Europe.

The latest smartphone OS market share data revealed by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech on Wednesday for the three months to 30 September showed Android devices as a whole have lost market share in Europe’s five big markets - Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

Huawei’s rise in the ranks is due to an increase in marketing focus and the weakening of other key brands, Kantar's Carolina Milanesi said.

“With a wider portfolio of products ranging from the high-end all the way to the low-end, Huawei made particular inroads in Spain and Italy.”

In the UK, Android controlled 51.4% of the market, a drop of 2.7 percentage points from the three months to August.

Apple’s iOS gained 4.6 percentage points to take a 38.3% stake in the market, its strongest share ever recorded in a September quarter.

However it’s expected that number may continue to rise as the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus only launched late in September.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe’s Dominic Sunnebo said Samsung and LG were the only brands to grow year on year.

“Samsung now represents 53% of all Great Britain Android sales compared to 50% for the same time a year ago, while LG grew from 6% to 9%.

“These gains, however, were not enough to compensate for other Android-based manufacturers losses, leaving the OS to record yet another year-on-year decline.”

Windows phones in the UK also dipped to 9.8% from 11.3% month-on-month, while Blackberry rounded out the major operating system brands with 0.5% market share.