47% Of UK Consumers Now Own Smartphones

Digital Web
eCommerce AUK Web

If you’ve been following the development of the UK mobile market lately, you will hardly find the following piece of news surprising. According to the latest survey from YouGov, almost half of UK consumers own a smartphone.

From marginal niche products, smartphones have turned into an everyday gadget in a relatively short time and are now owned by 47% of people in Britain, mostly due to the accessibility of Android and iOS.

The new survey shows that Apple is still the top choice when consumers buy a smartphone, with a market share of 29%. Samsung comes next, with a market share of 20%, while Blackberry and HTC follow with a 17% share each. Just in comparison, Nokia is the leader among feature phones, holding 43% of the UK market, while it manages to grasp a mere 9% share of smartphone sales across the country with its new Windows Phone.

It is expected that over the next 12 months the proportion of UK consumers having a smartphone will reach 55%. However, the adoption of smartphones might be slowing down, according to YouGov, as the poll reveals that half of those who own a feature phone are happy with them and 40% currently have no intention to switch to a smartphone.

More than one in three feature phone users cite price as the key factor for shunning smartphones, so the launch of cheaper models, particularly by Samsung and HTC, is likely to have a positive effect on smartphone sales overall, YouGov predicts.