Apple Inc. Brand Loyalty Is Paying Off Handsomely

The well-documented smartphone battle between Apple iOS and Google Android took an interesting turn this week. For the first time since 2012, Apple iPhone sales outdid all Android device sales combined in the last quarter of 2014, according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. This news reinforces just how big of a hit the newest iPhone models have been with consumers, and it shows the strength of the portfolio of Apple smartphone offerings.

iPhone 6. Image source: Apple

Indeed, brand loyalty matters after allThe iPhone 6 and 6 Plus marked Apple's first foray into smartphones with displays larger than 4 inches -- a market already proven to be hot with many Android customers. As Apple competed with Samsung with similarly sized flagship devices, the tech giant proved it could not only attract new smartphone owners but also convince many Android users to make the switch.

With smartphone penetration in the U.S. at 59%, Kantar analyst Carolina Milanesi says platform loyalty is key.

Samsung, on the other hand, has a brand loyalty rate of 62%, according to Kantar, the strongest of all Android manufacturers in the U.S.

The idea that brand loyalty will matter more as market penetration increases is not new. Though when Apple stock was pulling back in 2013 and cheap Android devices were rapidly proliferating, the idea was not popular. Yankee Group's Carl Howe projected in April 2013 that the Apple smartphone platform would surpass Android market share in 2015. While we have yet to see market share data for this year, his estimates could turn out to be quite accurate.

No matter how close Howe's exact figures end up being to actual market share data by year-end, his underlying premise, outlined in 2013 when many wrote that Apple was doomed, has played out as he imagined.

Apple's U.S. market share of smartphone sales for the fourth quarter was 47.7%, up from 43.9% in the year-ago quarter, according to Kantar. Android's share of smartphone sales fell to 47.6% from 50.7% during the same period.

Apple store in China. Source: Apple

A global trendThe record-setting quarter went beyond the U.S. In Europe and China, Android smartphones still outsold the iPhone, but iPhone market share gained meaningfully in both markets. In Europe, Android saw its share decline by 3.8 percentage points, while Apple enjoyed a rise of 6.2 percentage points, according to Kantar. In China, Apple's share jumped 2.5 percentage points while Android's share decreased 1.6 percentage points.

Going forward, Apple has guided for revenue in the first calendar quarter of 2015 to be about 17% higher than the year-agoperiod, suggesting that the company expects even more big numbers from its iPhone business in 2015.

The article Apple Inc. Brand Loyalty Is Paying Off Handsomely originally appeared on Fool.com.

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