Android Market Share Rises to 54% in Japan After Apple Price Hikes
nashnova research
Android's share of Japan's smartphone market climbed to 54.1% while iPhone slid to 45.6% — Apple's two rounds of price hikes are pushing cost-conscious buyers toward rivals, with Google Pixel the biggest winner.
What shifted in Japan's smartphone market?
A survey by Tokyo-based MMD Labo in early August found Android's share at 54.1%, up 3.3 percentage points from February; iPhone fell 3.4 points to 45.6%.
The survey covered ages 18–79 and collected 34,838 valid responses.
This means → In a market where iPhone once dominated, Android has overtaken it and the gap is widening.
Why is iPhone losing share?
Apple raised iPhone prices twice this year — in July and September — the direct backdrop to the share decline.
The entry-level iPhone 17e now costs ¥124,800, up from ¥99,800 at launch — a 25% jump.
MMD Labo researchers point to rising semiconductor memory costs and currency swings as the main drivers. In plain terms = chips got more expensive and the yen stayed weak, squeezing Apple into passing costs on to buyers.
Who is catching the users leaving iPhone?
Google Pixel's share leapt from 2.1% in November 2021 to 9.5%, now the second-largest Android brand behind Sharp's Aquos.
In the sub-¥100,000 segment, the Pixel 10a and Samsung Galaxy A57 5G both price below that threshold and are selling well.
This means → Pixel's broader retail channels and lower price points are intercepting exactly the buyers who balk at the latest iPhone pricing.
How do preferences differ by age?
Teens and twenties still favor the iPhone 17 — brand loyalty remains strong.
Thirty-somethings lean toward the iPhone 16.
Ages 40–79 increasingly choose Sharp Aquos. This reflects a pattern: the older the buyer, the more price and practicality matter — and the less pull a brand premium has.
What variables come next?
The survey closed in early August, before Apple's September product launch. Some consumers may have been in wait-and-see mode, potentially skewing the data.
Apple last week unveiled its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, at ¥364,800 for the 256 GB model; the comparable iPhone 18 Pro is ¥219,800.
In plain terms = Apple keeps pushing prices higher. If these premium launches fail to pull fence-sitters back, the share erosion will accelerate — that is the key metric to watch next.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。