A new IDC report informs us that Android has returned to being the most popular smartphone OS in Australia. Recently, iOS had overtaken Android as the most popular smartphone OS in Q4 2016 as it held over 54% of the market compared to 47% for Android. Bilal Javed, Senior Market Analyst at IDC stated that "Riding on the back of multiple Android product launches, the tables have turned and Android has returned to the top by grabbing 63% market share compared to iOS's 37% in Q2 2017" Even with the recent slowdown of iPhone shipments, Apple's flagship iPhone 7 models were still able to hold on to the top spot with 37% market share."

Javed Added that the slowdown was expected as consumers are holding off until new flagship smartphones launch. The question becomes, will Apple's iPhone 8 and iPhone X with its OLED display be able to put Apple's iPhone shipments back on top in Australia?

Samsung was the success story of this quarter as its market share jumped from 23% in 2017Q1 to 34% in 2017Q2. Samsung successfully bounced back from impact of the recall of Galaxy Note 7 last year and the growth was fueled by the launch of the highly successful Galaxy S8 and S8+. These two models made up for over 75% of total smartphones shipped from Samsung in the quarter. The success of the Galaxy S8 series and the launch of the Galaxy Note 8 recently looks to be Samsung's market stand as it gets ready to lock horns with Apple in the second half of 2017.

The Australian mobile phone market, including feature phones and smartphones, exceeded growth expectations with 18.4% Year-over-Year growth.

The reason that the leadership battle between Apple and Android could swing so violently from quarter to quarter is that the volume is light. Last quarter only 2.16 million phones were shipped. This is why Apple is likely to swing back to being number one in Australia for calendar Q4 as it did last year.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.