iPhone 6 Sales Drive Apple to 'Record Quarter': Report

According to data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple saw huge rise in sales in the quarter ending October 2014 that led the firm to account for 39.5 percent of British smartphone sales - "it's highest ever level".

Across Europe, the data reveals Android sales were leading at 69.4 percent; though they did record a fall of 2.5 percent in the quarter. Apple, on the other hand, saw a rise of 5.7 percent recorded 20.7 percent overall sales. Windows Phone stood third with a market share of 8.7 percent of the market.

(Also see: iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus - Which One Is More Popular? We Finally Have Some Data)

Talking about the new data, Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said, "Apple has experienced a huge jump in sales share across almost all major markets thanks to the launch of the iPhone 6. In major European economies, the US and Australia, Apple's share of sales has risen."

Some of the insights from the data include the fact early adopters of the iPhone 6 (Review | Pictures) in Great Britain were typically in the age groups of 16-24 year olds (34 percent of sales), while the top reasons owners gave for buying an iPhone 6 were 4G capability (51 percent), screen size (49 percent) and design (45 percent). The data claimed that the iPhone 6 outsold the 6 Plus by a 4:1 ratio.

(Also see: Apple Posts Strong Quarterly Results on iPhone Sales)

"This success is particularly evident in Great Britain where Apple now has its highest ever share of sales with 39.5 percent. Most of these sales were driven by loyal Apple users. Some 86 percent of British buyers upgraded from an older iPhone model, only 5 percent switched across from Samsung," Sunnebo added.

For the US market, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's data revealed that the Cupertino-based giant's sales rose by 0.7 percent in three months ending October against the same period last year.

It notes, "Verizon (42.2 percent) and AT&T (41.4 percent) took an almost equal share of iPhone 6 sales, but AT&T held an impressive 63 percent share of iPhone 6 Plus sales, showing that it was being favoured on larger screen devices." In US, the iPhone 6 outsold the iPhone 6 Plus (Review | Pictures) by a 3:1 ratio; though the data suggested that iPhone 6 Plus owners were older than iPhone 6 buyers.

"Overall, iPhones made up four out of the five best-selling models over the past three months," it added.

Kantar's Chief Researcher and U.S. Head, Carolina Milanesi told Techcrunch, "The iPhone 5s was the second best-selling iPhone model with 26 percent, and the iPhone 5c was third with 18 percent. The iPhone 6 Plus captured 10 percent of iOS sales."

(Also see: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Cannibalising iPad Usage, Suggests Pocket)

For the Chinese market, the data claimed that Apple's share grew by a small 0.2 percent in the three months ending October. Notably, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus went on sale in China on October 17, and the data suggests despite of shorter availability duration, the iPhone 6 was third best selling device in the month of October.

The data pointed that Chinese handset maker Xiaomi was the dominating manufacturer in China with its Redmi Note as the top selling model in October.