iPhone 5c outsold Galaxy S5 in the UK

iPhone 5c Blue summer wall splash

I’m sick and tired of hearing armchair analysts repeatedly proclaiming Apple’s unapologetically plastic iPhone 5c a failure just because sales numbers don’t meet their wet dream targets.

I bought an iPhone 5c for my Mom’s birthday. My friend owns one. Yes, I even see it used in public.

To this date, not a single iPhone 5c owner exhibited a case of buyer’s remorse.

I mean, you never hear anyone complaining about Apple’s practice of keeping past two iPhone generations on the market at reduced prices whenever a new model comes along. The strategy has served the company well and that’s exactly what the iPhone 5c is – a previous-gen iPhone repackaged inside a plastic chassis, sold at a discount.

A lot of ink has been spilled to paint the iPhone 5c a dud, but time and again real world numbers simply don’t corroborate this notion. A good example is a new Kantar survey proving that Apple’s mid-tier handset beat Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S5 in terms of sales in the United Kingdom…

The Kantar survey, headlined with ‘Galaxy S5 attracts some Apple customers in Europe’, actually shows the Samsung smartphone lagging behind its older iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c rivals in the United Kingdom during May, which was the first full month of Galaxy S5 sales since its European release.

“Despite its blockbuster launch, the Galaxy S5 was only the third highest selling smartphone in Britain behind the iPhone 5s and 5c,” notes the research firm.

Over half (58 percent) of European Galaxy S5 buyers were repeat customers and 17 percent across the five largest European markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) did in fact switch from Apple.

Should Apple be worried about nearly one out of each five Galaxy S5 buyers coming from iPhone?

Not at all.

donthave

As Kantar notes, customers were drawn to Samsung due to Galaxy S5’s large screen size and “this is something Apple is likely to address with the larger screen iPhone 6 launch expected in late September.“

So Apple currently does not have what consumers want, but this’ll hold true for just a few short months until 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 release, thereby erasing Samsung’s key advantage.

In the United States, Samsung’s device was the second highest-selling smartphone in May behind the iPhone 5s, although Samsung narrowly edged out Apple at a total brand level – 36.8 percent of sales versus 32.5 percent for Apple over the past three months.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEVXaDl-vw0

Apple’s US fans are more loyal to the company versus their European counterparts, with just eight percent of iPhone owners jumping ship and picking up a Galaxy S5 sales.

“The majority of those switching to Samsung were LG and HTC users,” Kantar concludes. Putting Apple’s achievement in context, keep in mind the following:

  • Samsung smartphones generally rule the European market
  • Galaxy S5 is Samsung’s latest flagship: unveiled on February 24, it was released on April 11 in 150 countries
  • iPhone 5c is nine months old: the handset was introduced last September
  • iPhone 5c uses last year’s technology, with the exception of faster Wi-Fi and upgraded LTE support
  • Apple’s iPhone 5c ad spending is no match for Samsung’s massive Galaxy S5 campaign
  • Carriers hate Apple and typically subsidize or discount Galaxy S5 heavily; the iPhone 5c not so much

Older, cheaper iPhones tend to be quite popular and by some estimates comprise about one-third of all iPhones sold. Case in point: the iPhone 3GS.

Launched at the WWDC in June of 2009, it continued in production until September 2012 when the iPhone 5 was announced.

More food for thought: the iPhone 5c outsold every BlackBerry, Windows Phone and flagship Android device in the United States during the holiday quarter.

That wallpaper top of post? Check out our own Jim Gresham’s Wallpaper of the Week, the Natural Summer edition, and download it to your iPhone now.

By the way, the iPhone turned 7 last Sunday.

Did you celebrate its birthday?