Nearly One-Third Of New iPhone Users In Europe Switched From Android In Q1

The smartphone market may have four major OSes battling it out, but the real fight -- the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao -- is between Apple and Google. Given the trends we've seen in recent years, where Android shot up to command the bulk of the smartphone market, we knew Apple was facing an uphill battle to begin eating away at those percentage points.

Well, there's some good news for iPhone fans: according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, 32.4% of those who adopted iOS during the first quarter came from Android. It should be noted that in many cases, Apple's overall market share didn't gain - it's just that those who did move over happened to consist of a good share of Android users.

To help put some of this into perspective, overall iOS usage dropped in Great Britain from 42% to 38.1% (December 2014 vs. March 2015), while Android rose from 50.5% to 52.9%. The same sort of adjustments can be seen in France, and to a lesser extent, in Germany and Italy.

Spain is a definite exception: from December 2014 to March 2015, iOS' share rose from 7% to 12.9%, while Android's dropped from a staggering 89.9% to 83%. Sadly for Microsoft, Windows Phone also saw a drop during that time, from 3.8% to 2.8%.

Year-over-year, Android's share dropped 3.1% across Europe, while iOS rose by 1.8%. In the grand scheme, these are modest shifts, but they're important ones to monitor.

It's not just in Europe that interesting movements are being made; in China, iOS sat at a 26.1% share in March, which is a major jump from 17.9%, seen a year prior. Of those in China who decided to adopt iOS, 38% purchased an iPhone directly based on a recommendation by a friend. 23% "recall seeing an ad."

As for the U.S., market share movement is almost non-existent: Google bumped from 57.6% to 58.1% year-over-year, while iOS did the same, from 35.9% to 36.5%. Microsoft and BlackBerry both saw declines, with Microsoft now sitting at 4.3%, and BlackBerry at 0.4%.

If you want to conduct your own investigations, I recommend you give Kantar WorldPanel's interactive map a go. You can select a country on the map (it can be the same country on both sides), and then adjust the values at the bottom.