iPhone 6 is a huge hit

Apple will have a record quarter for iPhone sales, if analyst estimates are to be believed. The company is expected to ship more than 70 million units in the last part of the year, nearly 20 million units more than the 51 million units it moved a year ago. It wouldn't surprise anyone if these estimates turn out to be accurate, considering the successful launch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, coupled with the high consumer demand for the two devices across the globe.

Today, research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech adds more credence to the estimates. Its latest report, on the three months ending October 2014, reveals record market share for Apple's smartphones in Britain, strong performance in continental Europe, and marginal improvements in market share in US and China.

In Britain, iPhones account for 39.5 percent of smartphone sales, which is 10.8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year, when Apple's smartphones only accounted for 28.7 percent of the market. That is incredible year-over-year growth, given just how small most iPhone market share variations tend to be, for most of which (10.4 percent) iPhone 6 is accountable.

"Most of these sales were driven by loyal Apple users", says Kantar Worldpanel ComTech strategic insight director Dominic Sunnebo. "Some 86 percent of British buyers upgraded from an older iPhone model, only 5 percent switched across from Samsung".

So who's buying iPhone 6? The research firm says that early adopters are generally young males (64 percent of buyers, between 16 and 24 years old), and that iPhone 6 outsold iPhone 6 Plus by a four to one ratio.

In the five European markets monitored by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (France, Germany, Italy and Spain being the other four), iPhones rose to 20.7 percent market share, a growth of 5.7 percentage points year-over-year.

Those marginal improvements are nothing to sneeze at, if we consider the pace at which the smartphone market is growing, especially in China, and the strong showing by Android.

In US, iPhones captured 41.5 percent market share in the three months ending October 2014, which is a 0.7 percentage point improvement over the same period of last year. Verizon sold most iPhone 6 units (42.2 percent share), while AT&T sold most iPhone 6 Plus units (63 percent share).

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech says that iPhone 6 outsold its larger brother, iPhone 6 Plus, by a ratio of three to one. Also, those who buy iPhone 6 Plus tend to be older than iPhone 6 buyers. Overall, of the five best-selling smartphones in US, four were iPhones.

Meanwhile, in China, iPhones rose to 15.7 percent market share from 15.5 percent market share. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech says that, in China, iPhone 6 was the third-best selling smartphone in the three months ending October 2014, despite launching in the largest smartphone market worldwide only in the second part of October.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox