iPhone 5 Britain’s most popular smartphone in March

THE iPhone 5 became Britain’s most popular smartphone in March – six months after it went on sale in September – an online comparison website said yesterday.

Apple’s success comes as the Samsung Galaxy S3 dropped to third place while fans of the South Korean company wait for the latest model to hit the shelves, according to uSwitch.com.

The S3 had been the UK’s number-one handset for ten months but lost its top spot after the S4 was unveiled on 14 March.

The popular Galaxy range still dominates the chart, with four places in the top ten, according to the uSwitch.com Mobile Tracker, which is based on searches, pre-orders and sales through the website.

The company said more than four times as many iPhone 5 handsets as S3 phones were sold through its website. Apple takes a further three places, with the iPhone 4s climbing five spots to second most popular handset in March.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said: “Although it’s still Apple versus Samsung at the top of the chart, there is plenty of mid-table contention between flagship efforts of other manufacturers, including Sony, HTC and LG.”