Kantar: iPhone market share up 7 percentage points to 40.5% in US, likely due to Samsung Galaxy Note7 troubles
Missing headphone jack is apparently a ‘non-issue’ for Americans — The US smartphone market is dominated by two big brands, Apple and Samsung, and when one of them flubs its lines …
Context & Ripple Effects
This flips the mid-year picture: back in July, Kantar had the Galaxy S7 outselling the iPhone 6s in the US between March and May, and Android posted 7.3% YoY US share growth in Q1. A year earlier the same tracker recorded iPhone share falling 2.3 points to 30.5% domestically even as it climbed abroad.
The new reading — 40.5%, up 7 points — attributes the swing to the Galaxy Note7's troubles, making this the first Kantar snapshot to capture post-recall buyer behavior. It also settles a side question: the iPhone 7's missing headphone jack registered as a 'non-issue' for American buyers.
First-order effects
- Apple converts Samsung's Note7 recall into immediate share, taking the lead in the US just months after trailing the S7 cycle, while Note7-intending buyers defect to iOS during the holiday quarter.
- Samsung loses its flagship momentum in its largest market right after a stretch where its devices were driving Android's US gains, leaving Android without a premium halo device for the season.
Second-order effects
- Carriers and retailers reweight promotions and inventory toward Apple for the holidays, compounding Samsung's loss at retail exactly when its replacement-flagship timeline is in flux.
- Samsung's next Galaxy launch now carries a trust-repair burden on top of the usual spec race — after a year in which Galaxy S6-driven Android gains showed how much a single device family can move the US market.
Third-order effects
- One recalled handset swinging US share by 7 points shows how concentrated the duopoly is: brand reliability, not feature checklists, decides swings — consistent with the headphone-jack removal costing Apple nothing measurable.
- If the pattern holds, premium Android share in the US hinges on Samsung's execution, pushing rivals like LG — which nearly doubled its US share once before off Samsung's stumbles — to court defectors rather than fight Apple head-on.
The trend: The US smartphone market operates as a two-brand contest in which one vendor's product failure translates almost directly into the other's share.