iPhone 4S Surges in Battle of Britain

Pent-up demand for the iPhone 4S in Great Britain has carried the device straight to the top of the country’s sales charts. According to data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the iPhone captured nearly half of U.K. smartphone sales in October, overtaking its Android rivals.

“Apple took a whopping 42.8 percent share of all smartphone sales, giving it a significant lead over Android — a feat many thought was impossible,” Dominic Sunnebo, global insight director at ComTech, explained. “With nearly a year and a half between iPhone launches there has been huge pent-up demand.”

Indeed. Android’s share of handset sales for October? 35 percent.

An impressive surge for Apple. Caveat: this is data for one month only and that month was the one that saw the launch of the 4S — a de facto guarantee for a spike in demand. Taking a longer view of the 12 weeks ended October 30, Android still leads with a 46 percent share to the iPhone’s 27.8 percent.

Still, 27.8 percent is a nice chunk of the market to have captured, especially considering Apple did it with just three phones (iPhones 3Gs, 4 and 4S).

(Image credit: Chart by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech)