Apple iPhone, iPad surprise in South Africa

Vodacom has published its quarterly update for the period ending 30 June 2014, which showed that the number of Apple iPhones and iPads on the network decreased for the first time ever.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said the number of active smartphones and tablets on their South African network increased 19.3% to 8 million devices.

BlackBerry remains the most used smartphone in South Africa, with 2.9 million devices. However, this number is declining rapidly.

Android is catching up to BlackBerry with 2.56 million devices on the Vodacom network – up from 2.19 million three months ago.

Windows is also showing growth in the mobile market, increasing from 375,000 devices to 410,000 over the last three months.

The big story, however, is that the number of Apple smartphones and tablets declined from 785,000 to 775,000 over the last three months. This is the first time the number of Apple devices has declined.

This decline may be short lived. Apple is expected to launch the new iPhone 6 soon, which is set to be one of the biggest smartphone launches in history.

The following table provides an overview of the number of mobile devices, by platform, on the Vodacom network.

It should be noted that only the most popular platforms are listed, which means that other platforms, like Symbian, are excluded.

Mobile devices on Vodacom’s network

The following graph provides an overview of the growth and decline of the four major mobile platforms on Vodacom’s network.

Mobile devices on Vodacom’s network

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