Apple iPhone 5S outsells 5C three-to-one in Great Britain

Firm sees a boost from new customers moving to colourful range of handsets

The iPhone 5S has outsold the iPhone 5C by a ratio of three-to-one in Great Britain, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel. The numbers match general market demand for the iPhone 5C, as Apple has reportedly already cut orders for the device from its manufacturers.

But overall, the impact of the new devices has helped Apple boost its operating system market share in Great Britain from 25.7 percent in August 2013 to 28.7 percent by the end of October.

However, this was a decline of four percent on the same period in 2012, when market share was 32.7 percent. Despite the year-on-year fall, Kantar strategic insight director Dominic Sunnebo said the numbers were a boost for Apple as it was enticing new customers and boosting share, despite many existing users waiting for the bigger iPhone 6 update next year.

"Generally, Apple's share of the market still remains lower than when the iPhone 5 was released, although this is not wholly unexpected as shoppers tend to react more positively to ‘full' releases than incremental improvements such as the 5S and 5C," he said.

"The good news for Apple is that this wider appeal is attracting significant switching from competitors. Almost half of iPhone 5C owners switched from competitor brands, particularly Samsung and LG, compared with 80 percent of 5S owners who upgraded from a previous iPhone model."

Meanwhile Windows Phone had mixed fortunes as its market share in Great Britain rose from 4.6 percent to 11.9 percent over the past 12 months, but actually decreased by 0.1 percent over the last three months.

Despite the small quarter-on-quarter decline, Sunnebo said Nokia devices were leading the boost for Windows Phone, although they were still in the lower end of the market.

"Momentum for Windows Phone is continuing, although its growth remains reliant on low-end handsets. In Britain, almost three quarters of Nokia Lumia sales in the latest period were low-end devices such as the Lumia 520 and 620 - a pattern that is similar across other EU markets," he said.

Lastly, Android's dominance remained firmly in place, with a slight increase in market share from 54 percent to 55.6 percent over the last twelve months. Although this was down on the past three months, when its share of the market stood at 56.3 percent.