Apple captured half of U.S. mobile phone activations in Q4, demand still at record high

Record sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus propelled Apple to dominance in the smartphone market in the US during the holidays and demand is reaching record levels, the individual reports issued on Friday, so indicate.

One in two mobile phones activated in the US 1 October to 31 December were iPhones, according to a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners 500 buyers. Second Samsung took 26 percent of the market, with South Korean firm LG mate in third place at 11 percent.

Apple's share increased significantly from 28 percent of the company booked in the previous quarter. CIRP attributed the jump to consumers waiting for the iPhone 6 release before buying a new device, a pattern that has been repeated throughout the life of the iPhone.

Samsung comparatively reduced 5 percent sequentially. LG was 8 percent in the same period.


"By every measure, 2014 Apple phone launch was a success," said co-founder Josh Lowitz CIRP a releae. "iPhones took loyal Apple customers, with 86% of buyers upgrading from an iPhone. Samsung and LG saw rates much lower fidelity, with 25% of owners of Samsung and 18% of owners LG that triggered a phone in the neighborhood switch to an iPhone ".

Those numbers look set to continue, as 56 percent of consumers plan to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days said they have an eye on an iPhone. The research firm surveyed 451 Research surveyed 4,126 "mainly Americans" to reach that conclusion.

That number is down from the 71 percent who planned to buy before the release of iPhone 6, but still represents a huge advantage over Samsung, which ranks second with 18 percent of the purchase intention in itself a modest increase 5 percent sequentially. It is the highest level of demand for iPhone at this point in the product cycle from 451 began tracking, the firm said.


Apple's decision to increase the size of the iPhone screen seems to have played a role, with 60 percent of likely buyers saying they prefer a screen size over 5 inches.

Apple is "thrilled" with the growing number of companies working on products HomeKit

Been nearly eight months since Apple submit in partnership HomeKit, August iOS API dedicated to the automation of our home, and it is expected that the first compatible devices still take three or four months to get to the shops. It's not what is said record time, right?

HomeKit allow us to do things like ask Siri to turn off the lights, lock the doors, adjust the heating or connect the alarm; and will also be possible to group the instructions we want under a single action for this automation ballet begins in unison when we leave home no matter what products we use more than one brand.

Since then promises, and although it would have been great to start testing all these things in September with the release of iOS 8 Bluetooth and Wifi chips compatible with HomeKit were delayed. Texas Instruments, Marvell and Broadcom, Apple approved manufacturers did not begin to supply until early November, and even then they did using a beta version of its Apple firmware version while finalizing the protocol.