Apple’s iPhone may already be the top-selling smartphone in the UAE, but now it has tied with rival Samsung in global sales.
A move to offer its customers handsets with bigger screens has paid off for the US company, which has also claimed top position in China for the first time since 2011.
Both companies shipped about 74.5 million smartphones globally in the fourth quarter, according to data from Strategy Analytics. That gave them 19.6 per cent of the market each. Lenovo Group was in third place with a 6.5 per cent share.
The iPhone 5S was the most commonly used smartphone in the UAE, comprising 3.7 per cent of total handsets registered.
The iPhone went from strength to strength in 2014 with an increase in sales of 6 per cent in the third quarter which followed a an increase of 22 per cent in the second quarter of the year.
The figures from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority show that the iPhone 5 was the second most popular smartphone with 2.5 per cent of the market share. The third most commonly used smartphone was the Samsung S III with 2.4 per cent, followed by iPhone 4S at 1.7 per cent.
Market shares of the Samsung S5 LTE and Samsung Note 3 increased, however, reflecting the fast-changing nature of the market.
The once-mighty BlackBerry Bold 9900 was the ninth most popular smartphone with just 1.2 per cent of the UAE market.
Globally, Apple’s move into larger screens hit Samsung in an area it pioneered as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were popular in markets where consumers want a bigger device to perform the role of a phone and tablet.
In China Apple moved into first place, overtaking the local vendor Xiaomi, which fell three spots to sixth place globally. The new iPhones helped Apple almost double its smartphone share of the Chinese market to 17 per cent, from 9 per cent a year earlier, Counterpoint Technology Market Research said.
Apple this week posted a 38 per cent surge in net income for the December quarter.
ascott@thenational.ae
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