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European iPhone marketshare falls 5% in Q1 2013 according to IDC, whilst competitors grew, but Apple remains in second place

Figures from IDC released today show that iOS smartphone marketshare fell 5% year-over-year in Europe, even though iPhone growth in the US was very strong in the same period.

Apple’s share fell from 25% in Q1 2012 to 20% in Q1 2013, representative of approximately 6.2 million unit shipments. IDC notes that European smartphone market grew overall at a rate of just 12 percent, the slowest increase the company has ever recorded. The weakness in demand evidently hit Apple, but competing Android manufacturers have seen substantial share gains in the slump. Close rival Samsung, for instance, saw shipments rise by 1.8 million units to account for almost half of the whole market. Sony was another benefactor, gaining six percentage points over the period when compared to last year.

Despite these gains, the changes were not enough to disrupt overall rankings of manufacturers. Samsung and Apple took first and second place in sales, the same as a year ago. From an OS-level standpoint, 21.9 million Android devices were shipped, an increase from 55% to 69%, and remained in the top spot. iOS accounted for 20% of the market. Windows Phone, largely due to sales of Nokia Lumia devices, replaced Symbian to become the third-largest operating system in Europe, with a 6 percent share of the market.

It should be noted that IDC reports shipments only, which may differ considerably from total sales of devices to customers.

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