Which is the most popular smartphone in the UK? Since the launch of the iPhone back in 2007, the smartphone has steadily grown in popularity and is now by far the most common handset: smartphones have an 87% market share in the UK. The two players with the highest market shares are Apple and Samsung. Did you know that iPhone sales make up more than half of Apple’s annual multi-billion dollar sales revenue?
Apple released its latest smartphone, the iPhone 13, in September. With Christmas on the horizon, ABCD Agency teamed up with the consumer insights tool Rascasse to find out which smartphone is more popular in five different cities across the UK. By monitoring engagement on digital platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, and YouTube, Rascasse is able to determine user preferences on a postcode level. Check out the maps below to find out which smartphone brand is more popular in your area.
Apple Doing a Great Job in London
Apple has an impressive eight bricks-and-mortar stores across Greater London, which is one of the highest concentrations anywhere on the planet. In comparison, Samsung has just three of their Experience stores in the British capital. Nonetheless, Samsung matches Apple relatively evenly in this hugely important market: 15 London boroughs prefer the iPhone, compared to 11 which prefer Samsung smartphones.
The infographic shows how the iPhone is more popular in outlying boroughs around the periphery of London, whereas the Samsung is more popular in inner-city boroughs. Apple edges ahead in South London and North London, while Samsung edges ahead in East London.
Samsung Edges Ahead in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow
23 of the 44 postcodes analysed in Birmingham had a preference for the iPhone, while in Manchester, it is the reverse — the South Korean manufacturer is more popular in 23 of the 43 postcodes analysed. 39 Liverpudlian postcodes prefer Samsung smartphones, compared to 21 for the iPhone. Scotland’s largest city is a Samsung stronghold: only 22 out of 68 postcodes in Glasgow prefer the iPhone.
How We Produced These Maps
Rascasse is a consumer insights tool that maps interest in more than 250,000 topics by analysing engagement on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; by analysing streaming choices on sites such as Spotify and YouTube; by analysing buying behaviour on e-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay; and by analysing search behaviour on search engines like Google and Bing. In this instance, the iPhone and Samsung smartphones were the chosen topics. The analysis was carried out in September 2021. ABCD Agency is a marketing agency based in Berlin, Germany.