Apple handsets bounce back in Australia

Australia is a rather peculiar market for the smartphone industry, since Android has been trading blows with iOS on equal terms for a while now. On the other hand, the global market is clearly dominated by Android device, with a share of almost 90 percent. However, Android lost the lead in Australia during the last quarter of 2017, but iOS is now leading by a small margin and they might switch places once again at least once in 2018.

In numbers, the quick facts mentioned above look quite interesting. According to research firm IDC, iOS was able to grab the top position in Australia once again thanks to the release of the iPhone X flagship, which took place in November. The same source reveals the following number of devices, market share values, and year-over-year growth for the last quarter of 2017:

• iOS: 1.76 million, 56.2 percent (54.9 percent in the same period of 2016), 14.5 percent
• Android: 1.37 million, 43.8 percent, 9.7 percent

Overall, the Australian smartphone market recorded a healthy growth in the final quarter of 2017, with a 15.7 percent increase in shipments and no less than 3.36 million devices sold.

A funny — and quite sad — number comes from the Windows-driven dark corner of the Australian mobile market. In the final months of 2017, only 45 such devices were sold. Unfortunately for Microsoft, that is a two-figure number and there is no typo in the previous phrase. This drop in shipments translates to a negative growth of 99.7 percent, mainly caused by the lack of new devices and apps.