Android dominates Australian smartphone market, Apple crumbles to 35.9% despite iPhone 5 launch

A divide has opened up between smartphone sales in the US and Australian markets during the 12 weeks ending November 25th, with Android dominating the Australian market and Apple dominating the US, according to new market research figures.

The figures, compiled by Kantar ComTech, show that Apple’s Australian smartphone marketshare during the quarter ending November 25 sunk to just 35.9%, down from 41.3% for the same quarter last year, despite the launch of the iPhone 5.

In contrast, Android has opened up a strong lead in the Australian market, with a 58% marketshare, up from 46.7% a year earlier.

However, the bad news for Android is that its marketshare has slipped slightly from the quarter ending October 28, when SmartCompany reported its marketshare stood at 62.2%, compared to 29.4% for Apple, suggesting the iPhone 5 maker has experienced strong sales in the lead-up to Christmas.

The figures also show falls for Research in Motion’s BlackBerry platform (1.5% a year ago to 0.3% today) and Symbian (7.4% to just 1%), along with growth for Windows Phone (1.9% to 4.2%).

The situation is very different in the US, where Apple’s marketshare has grown from 35.8% to 53.3% year-on-year, while Android has slipped from 52.8% to 41.9%.

Across the five leading EU economies (the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Sain), however, Android continues to dominate, claiming 61% of the market (up from 51.8% a year ago) while Apple has grown slightly from 22.8% to 25.3%.

Apple’s weakest market in the survey, however, is the emerging Latin American economy of Brazil. There, iOS has slipped from 3.2% a year ago to just 1.6% today, with Android on 60.7% (up from 28.9% a year ago), while Symbian continues to be used on 27.9% of smartphones (down from 44.6%).

Finally, in urban China, Apple iOS claims 19.2% of the market, well behind Android on 72.2%.

The news highlights the needs for export-focused SMEs to consider local conditions when developing smartphone apps.