Report: Sony’s market share doubles in Japan this year thanks to new Xperia phones

Japan is a big market for Android devices. The country records the highest Google Play revenue in the world. Yesterday, game developer Animoca released a report revealing how Sony’s new Xperia phones have given the brand a big boost in the country, taking it ahead of Samsung and its Galaxy phones.

Remember, these are not sales figures, just a count of which phones are being used to play Animoca-made games. The data might be swayed towards younger people.

The number one Android phone (in these figures) in Japan is the Sony Xperia A with 5.9 percent observed usage, overtaking the previous leader Samsung Galaxy S3 by just 0.2 percent. The Samsung Galaxy S4 occupies the third position with 4.8 percent, but Sony takes the overall win by claiming six out of top 13 spots in Japan.

Animoca points out that Sony has doubled its Android market share in the last six months, as the brand now holds 16.5 percent market share. Samsung – the only non-Japanese phone brand on the chart – is in second place with 13.8 percent. This growth from Sony could be attributed to Japanese support for homegrown products, all the new Xperia phones this year, and Sony’s bigger emphasis on Japan.

Note that if you look at new sales figures for Japan, iPhone is top and Sharp is second, while Sony is fourth and Samsung fifth.

You can check out Animoca’s chart below:

(Editing by Steven Millward and Paul Bischoff)