Kantar report: iOS market share fell for the first time in urban China since August 2014, a 3.2% drop between February 2015 and February 2016
Android OS Share in China Gets Boost from New Year's Sales — The latest smartphone OS data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a reversal of the story Kantar told just months earlier: an August 2015 report had iPhone share dropping in the US while still climbing in Europe and China. By February 2016 that China climb has ended, with iOS down 3.2 points in urban China — its first decline there since August 2014.
The drop lands in a market already showing strain: IDC recorded China's first quarterly smartphone shipment decline in six years in Q1 2015, even as Apple held the top vendor slot. The description attributes Android's gain to New Year's sales, making this a demand-cycle shift as much as a brand-preference one.
First-order effects
- Apple loses its unbroken urban-China share streak dating back to August 2014, ceding ground in what had been its strongest growth region during the iPhone 6 cycle.
- Android OEMs riding Chinese New Year promotions capture the share Apple gives up, with Kantar's data crediting the holiday sales window for the OS swing.
Second-order effects
- Domestic Android vendors gain momentum against Apple at the premium end of the same market where Apple had been the largest vendor by share a year earlier, forcing Apple to compete on refresh cadence rather than novelty alone.
- Kantar's own next data point shows the pattern extending rather than correcting — Android grew share again across the US, Europe's top five markets, and China in Q1 2016, with Galaxy S7 flagged as a US driver.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, China's smartphone market becomes a replacement-driven, share-shifting battleground between Apple and domestic Android brands rather than a growth engine for either — a dynamic later coverage confirms, from Apple briefly becoming China's top vendor in late 2021 to its 18% decline in Q4 2024 as Huawei overtook it.
The trend: China's smartphone market has shifted from an iOS expansion story to a volatile, replacement-cycle contest where Apple's share swings against domestic Android brands.