The iPhone 5S remains Britain’s most popular mobile for a sixth consecutive month
Samsung is the most popular mobile maker in March, with four handsets in the UK Top 10
April sees the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S5, as well as word of a new Nokia Lumia device.
The iPhone 5S held onto the top spot of the Uswitch.com Mobile Tracker – which is based on live searches, pre-orders and sales – meaning it has now been Britain’s most popular mobile phone for the past six consecutive months.
Despite having fewer phones in March’s mobile chart than Samsung, Apple is still dominating the top five, holding three places in the top half of the table.
However, change could be on the cards as March and April sees the release of three new flagship handsets from mobile giants, including Sony, Samsung and HTC, which could upset the Applecart.
The HTC One M8, which was both unveiled and made available to UK consumers in late March, has fared well in initial reviews. The new handset has not only inherited all the best bits of its predecessor the HTC One – currently the UK’s 7th most popular phone – but also delivers a twin-lens camera that allows post-snap refocusing, a boon for photography enthusiasts.
Nokia has just launched the 1320, a budget phablet, and looks set to unveil another Lumia phone on April 3rd. A Lumia device has not featured in the Uswitch Top 10 since August 2013, when the 520 was in 10th place. Meanwhile, the heavily hyped Samsung Galaxy S5 will be on sale from April 11th.
Samsung has the most handsets in the top ten with a total of four to Apple’s three, and has proven very popular with the British public. The Samsung Galaxy S4 remains in third place after the iPhone 5S and 5C – although the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S3 have switched places in the chart at number five and six. The S3 still boasts incredible value with deals starting from as little as £11 per month including a free handset, making it the cheapest phone in the top ten. By contrast the iPhone 5S is the priciest, starting at £29 per month with a ‘free’ phone.
The Sony Xperia Z1 has dropped another place this month to 10th in the chart while its small sibling, the Xperia Z1 Compact, has held onto 8th place after shooting back into the charts last month. The main difference is the size, as the Z1 Compact sports a 4.3-inch display, while the Z1 has a 5-inch screen. Both phones boast top-end Android operating systems, sleek, glass fibre polyamide design and are 100% waterproof.
Number one handset – Apple’s iPhone 5S 16GB was the number one phone in March
New entries – There were no new entries this month
Biggest losers – Samsung Galaxy S3 and Sony Xperia Z1 have both slipped one place
Top Ten Handsets for March – correct on 31 March, 2014
Source: Uswitch.com
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, says: “Hats off to the iPhone 5S for holding on to the top spot for half a year, despite being the most expensive handset in the chart. It really demonstrates the power of the brand, and the value that consumers assign to the core iOS user experience. There’s no doubt that the recently released 8GB iPhone 5c will eventually make an appearance, once cost-conscious shoppers spot this new, more affordable route into the Apple ecosystem. Having said that, we’re in the midst of a smartphone frenzy, with three of the major mobile manufacturers releasing their devices into the wild within weeks of each other. The critically acclaimed HTC One M8 stands to lure those swayed by a premium device without the costly outlay, Sony are betting big on legacy love for the brand with a feature-packed flagship in the Xperia Z2, whilst Samsung’s Galaxy S5 looks set to shake up the market with a bevy of health-related features and a redesigned user interface. At the moment, the S5 seems to shape up as the biggest threat to the iPhone 5S’s supremacy – we’re already seeing the Galaxy sequel make a dent in the April chart – but time will tell if other entrants are just as disruptive to the smartphone status quo.”
Maja Hauke
Phone: 0207 148 4663
Email: maja.hauke@uswitch.com
The Uswitch.com Mobile Tracker data is derived from Omio's (www.omio.com) network of comparison sites, which includes Uswitch.com and a number of leading consumer technology websites which total in excess of 10 million monthly page views. The data is a result of an aggregation of all of the clicks and all of the sales from these partner sites.
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