Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has entered the phablet market with a bang. A new study from market research firm Kantar WorldPanel shows that the iPhone 6 Plus has captured 41% of the U.S. ‘phablet’ sales in the three-month period ending October. Note that the iPhone 6 Plus arrived the market on September 19, so it wasn’t available for the entire August-October quarter.
Galaxy S5 top-selling Android device
Kantar said that Apple’s 5.5-inch phablet was outselling every other phablet in the market by some distance. What’s more, phones with screen size of 5.5-inch or higher have been gaining traction. According to the research firm, phablets accounted for only 2% of smartphone sales in 2013. But their share grew to 10% this year.
Among Android devices, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was the best-selling model during the quarter with 22% share, followed by the Galaxy S4 with 12%. The Galaxy Note 4 was launched in the U.S. market only recently, so it’s too early to measure its impact. Moreover, smartphones accounted for 81% of the total phone sales in the U.S.
58% iPhone 6 Plus buyers purchased it for the bigger screen
When asked what drove them to buy the iPhone 6 Plus, 58% of the survey participants said that screen size was the primary reason. The 4G LTE connectivity was the second biggest reason cited by buyers. Though the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 has been introduced only recently, it emerged as the top-selling iOS device during the August-October quarter with 33% share.
The iPhone 5S made up 26% of the total iOS smartphone sales. The iPhone 5C accounted for 18% of sales, followed by the iPhone 6 Plus with 10%. That’s in line with previous reports that the iPhone 6 was outselling the 6 Plus by 3-to-1. However, Apple’s new phones have not proved to be very popular among Android switchers. Kantar said that 85% of the total iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales came from existing iOS users who upgraded from an older model. Only 9% of new iPhone buyers came from Android.
Apple shares gained 0.45% to $116.01 in pre-market trading Friday.
