iPhone was Japan’s Top Smartphone for 2011, But Android Still Dominant OS by Far

According to figures from MM Research, Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone was the number one smartphone in Japan for 2011 with 7.25 million units sold during the year, accounting for 30 percent of all smartphone sales in Japan. For the entire mobile market including feature phones, it was practically a three way tie. Fujitsu claimed the crown as the market leader with 17.9 percent, just edging out Apple at 17.0 percent, and Sharp at 16.7 percent.

As we noted previously, Apple had a particularly strong fourth quarter accounting for the largest share of mobile shipments in that period, thanks to its October release of the iPhone 4S in Japan.

But looking at the breakdown of smartphone operating systems, Apple’s iOS still trails far behind Android which dominates with 69 percent of the market, in comparisons to iOS at just 30 percent.

The report also notes that handset shipments overall saw an increase of 13.5 percent on the previous year, with 42.74 million units shipped, and 24.17 million of that being smartphones. This backs up comScore’s recent report that said smartphones have surpassed feature phones among “newly acquired devices” for the first time ever in Japan, even though most people in the country still own a feature phone.

Japan's domestic smartphone market share, fy 2011

Japan's domestic mobile market share (including feature phones), fy 2011

[Via Macotakara, image via Keitai Watch with English annotations overlaid by me]