Motorola nabs more phone sales
MOTOROLA, the smartphone firm that Lenovo is taking over, has seen its UK sales explode following the launch of the low-cost Moto G in November.
Currently owned by Google, Motorola had a mere 0.9 per cent share of UK smartphone sales in September, but has now grown to six per cent, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel.
Commenting on Motorola’s dramatic growth, Kantar’s strategic insight director Dominic Sunnebo said: “Motorola was nowhere in Europe before the Moto G launched in November last year, but the new model has since boosted the manufacturer to six per cent of British sales. It highlights the speed at which a quality budget phone can disrupt a market.”
These latest sales figures make Lenovo’s $2.91bn (£1.74bn) acquisition look increasingly promising as it looks to establish a beachhead to compete against Apple and Samsung in Europe.
The Android operating system continues to dominate Britain’s smartphone market, though its share has slipped to 54 per cent of smartphone sales, from 58.3 per cent a year ago. Apple’s iOS took 32.1 per cent of the market in the three months to the end of February, up from 29 per cent this time last year.