Top dog
HTC's smartphones have dominated a new chart of the ‘best' mobile phones, with Apple dropping out of the top 5 places.
HTC's Desire, Desire HD and Wildfire phones took the top 3 places in the uSwitch tracker, which ranks mobiles by live searches and sales.
HTC's Desire series has arguably proved one of the biggest competitors to Apple's high-end smartphone success, while the Wildfire demonstrates consumers' wish to have a smartphone on a tighter budget.
Android-operated handsets now make up half of the most popular mobiles according to the research, marking a change from when Apple was top dog as its iPhone has now slipped out of the top 5, perhaps because the handset is usually pricier than its Android-powered peers.
uSwitch notes that Desire models are usually offered on slightly cheaper tariffs than the iPhone despite having comparable specs and with new HTC models just-announced it is likely that slightly older HTC models will fall in price but still remain relatively popular.
Here are the top 10 handsets, according to uSwitch's research.
- HTC Desire
- HTC Desire HD
- HTC Wildfire
- BlackBerry Curve 8520
- Samsung Galaxy S
- Apple iPhone 4 16GB
- Motorola Defy
- Sony Ericsson S500i
- Samsung G800
- Samsung i600
BlackBerry still has one handset in the top 10, despite erosion of sales due to the popularity of other smartphone platforms, while there is a notable absence of phone giant Nokia in the top 10. Perhaps that will change after its Windows Phone hook-up.
uSwitch's communications guy, Ernest Doku warned that Apple has cause to be worried: "The competition is taking a huge bite out of Apple's market and, with over 800,000 deals currently giving away a smartphone for free, it's easy to see how consumers are being lured away from the iPhone.
"Many have to account for every penny spent, but at the same time do not want to miss out on owning the latest gadget. A free handset is a much more attractive proposition than shelling out for one - especially at iPhone prices. HTC has outsmarted the smartphone market by customising its handsets at a range of price points - as seen by the Wildfire acting as an aspirational Desire, plus Google's Android operating platform really cuts the mustard in terms of the thousands of applications available, especially on the gaming side," he added.
However, he said that Apple is not out of the race yet, with details expected to be announced shortly of the firm's iPhone 5 which will no doubt have many fanboys salivating.
"It's almost a dead cert that they will soon lead the way again in the race for smartphone dominance," he added.
According to the research, the iPhone 4 is the biggest faller in the chart, dropping 3 places since January. Meanwhile, HTC's Wildfire is the biggest climber up the chart, which although less technologically developed and smaller than the Desire has introduced smartphone to those on a smaller budget.
