iPhone 4S October sales surge

A surge of punters picking up a brand new iPhone 4S in October saw Apple sell more smartphones than all Android smartphone makers combined, according to new Kantar Worldpanel research.

iPhone sales had been down in previous months with the Apple faithful holding off on picking up an iPhone 4 following persistent rumours of an iPhone 5. Once the iPhone 4S arrived, that pent up demand turned into a surge in sales with Apple picking up an astonishing 42.8 per cent of all British smartphone sales in October.

The combined might of the usually dominant Android smartphone market was knocked briefly into second place with 35 per cent market share. A Guardian report suggested that Apple’s iPhone sales had quadrupled in October following the iPhone 4S release.

Meanwhile, despite having launched the critically received ‘Mango’ update for Windows Phone, Microsoft struggled to capture even a single per cent market share in the 12 weeks ending on the 30th of October.

That said, the first Nokia phones based on Windows Phone have since hit the market so it seems reasonable that Windows Phone will have since improved somewhat off the back of the swish Lumia phones. Apple probably isn’t crying into their beer just yet.