iPhone Market Share Drops to 43.1% in the US in November [Kantar]

Despite the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c boosting Apple’s smartphone sales month after month, the competition is growing faster on a year-over-year basis, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel Comtech report (via TechCrunch).

The two new iPhone models have helped the Cupertino-based company to reach smartphone market shares of 69.1% in Japan, 43.1% in the US, 35% in Australia, and 30.6% in the UK as of the end of November, 2013. Looking at the US numbers, Kantar has noticed an almost 10% drop compared to the previous year, when Apple grabbed 53% of the local smartphone market. Meanwhile, Android has recorded an 8% growth, and Windows has grown 2.1%, now accounting for 4.7% of the US smartphone market.

Commenting on the data in a statement, Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said: “You don’t have to conquer China and the U.S. to win in the smartphone market, but you do need success in one of them. At the moment there are few signs of progress in either country for Windows Phone and momentum needs to be made soon before OS loyalty severely limits the available market.”

While the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c rank high among customers in terms of satisfaction, Apple is facing a hard time year-over-year to post market share gains, as the numbers reveal.

In Europe Apple has posted a 6.5% drop on a year-over-year basis, and now accounts for 18.1% of all smartphone sales.