Apple’s China woes - iOS market share continues to slide down

Big US tech giants have always had a tough time in China. It’s the same for Cupertino behemoth Apple with things getting only worse. According to the latest figures from Kantar WorldpanelComTech, the market share of iOS for what the firm defines as “urban China” declined 4.4 percent to 14.3 percent for the three months ending in July.

On the other hand, Google's Android market share rose 5.6 percent to 85 percent, an all-time high for Google’s mobile OS. But the things aren't that bad for Apple as they appear by numbers.

Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar WorldpanelComTech Asia says, "33 percent of the current iOS installed base owns an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, representing a large opportunity for iOS to return to growth in the coming months as the latest iPhone is released and consumers contemplate the upgrade.”

Optimism indeed!

In terms of handset sales, Huawei tops the list with 27.6 percent of market share, followed by Xiaomi at 18.5 percent and Apple at third position.

Outside China, the grass looks green for Apple. In the United States, iOS had 31.3 percent of smartphone sales, up 1.2 percent from the same three months one year ago. Android slipped 0.6 percent to 65 percent.

Noticeably, Kantar says the iPhone 6s is the number one selling smartphone in the U.S., with 11 percent market share. But the iPhone 6, which Apple is expected to discontinue selling after the new batch of phones is released, still, claims 4.1 percent of all U.S. smartphone sales.