Besides finishing 2011 as the top smartphone manufacturer in the world, NPD Group reports that Apple also managed to snag the top three smartphone sales slots in the 2011 holiday quarter. The iPhone 4S was the number one top selling smartphone, followed by the iPhone 4 and the 3GS.
Attracted by a faster processor, improved camera and the Siri speech-driven agent, most iPhone buyers paid a premium for the iPhone 4S, making it the top-selling handset in Q4,” said Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group. “The iPhone 4S outsold the iPhone 4 by 75 percent, and outsold the iPhone 3GS, available for free on AT&T, five to one.
This means that the iPhone 3GS, which has been around well over 2 years, still sold more than the best-selling Android handset from October through December of last year, which is pretty remarkable.
NPD also found that Android devices rank significantly better among first-time smartphone purchasers that people buying subsequent smartphones, suggesting that Android users are more likely to switch to another smartphone in the future.