Motorola has made a remarkable comeback on the smartphone market thanks to the success of the affordable Moto G handset.
The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months to February 2014, shows a resurgent Motorola climbing from almost nothing to 6% of British sales in just six months.
Its success has helped Android remain the top OS across Europe with 68.9% share. Apple holds second position with 19.0% share and Windows is third with 9.7%.
Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “A significant 48% of Moto G sales were made online. With virtually no existing customers to sell to in Britain, the Moto G has stolen significant numbers of low-mid end customers from Samsung and Nokia Lumia.”
In the US, Android’s momentum has returned after iOS’ share peaked as a result of the release of the iPhone 5S and 5C models. Android’s share is up 3.9% compared to last year, with LG the fastest growing Android brand.
LG’s share of the US market has now topped 8% making it the third largest manufacturer in sales, with the high-end G2 its top-selling device.
Sunnebo comments: “Customer recommendation figures for the past three months show the LG G2 has the highest rating of any new handset at 9.2 out of 10, followed by the iPhone 5S at 9.1 and Samsung Galaxy Note III at 9.0.”
Smartphone penetration in the UK stands at 70% in February, with 86% of devices sold in the past three months being smartphones.