iPhone was Japan's best-selling smartphone in 2011, Android more than comfy as well
It's deemed likely that Apple had the top-selling cellphone in Japan this past fall, but how did it do in all of 2011? Quite well, if you go by MMRI's estimates. The iPhone had 30 percent (almost 7.3 million) of the Land of the Rising Sun's 24.2 million sales among individual smartphone labels, or nearly double Sharp's 17.5 percent. Don't think that Android-powered smartphones like the Aquos SH-12C didn't make an impact, though: virtually every other smartphone in Japan, 69 percent, was running some flavor of Google's mobile OS. Apple managed to shake up a sometimes insular overall keitai market as well, having come just short of Fujitsu for the top spot in all cellphones. Researchers are expecting the smartphone space in Japan to grow by a healthy 15 percent in 2012, although it's still a wildcard as to whether or not KDDI's iPhone support will keep Apple riding high for another year.
