While 2011 was the first year that the iPhone didn't top the best smartphone lists or Wireless and Mobile News top hottest coolest smartphones of the year, the iPhone remained the bestseller across networks where it was sold according to Canaccord. What we find more interesting is that the Android top sellers, all received top best honors in best of the year lists, showing that reviews do influence buyers.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley and his team found:
- The greatest Android seller, after the iPhone 4S was the Samsung Galaxy S II at AT&T in October, November and and December.
- Top Verizon Android smarpthones were the Droid Bionic in October, Droid RAZR /HTC Rezound in November and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus/ Droid RAZR in December.
- At Sprint the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch was the Android best seller.
- At T-Mobile the top sellers were the Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Amaze and HTC Radar. The HTC Radar is only Windows Phone of the bestsellers.
Canaccord's figures differ from NPD's results which included many older model last-year smartphones.
The trends we can see from the Canaccord list are:
- Samsung gaining more traction than ever before with bigger Super AMOLED touchscreens.
- HTC tops the T-Mobile network.
- The iPhone is still uber popular.
- The competitively priced Windows Phone, the HTC Radar is making gains for Windows Phone.