Sales of BlackBerry handsets to consumers have all but fizzled out in the US, China, Spain and Japan, with the UK remaining its best-selling area, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The latest data for smartphone sales for the three months to the end of October 2013 shows that the company's share of sales in the US fell to just 0.8%, even as that market has grown in size as more and more smartphones become available.

In China, Spain and Japan, its share fell to less than a tenth of a percent - so that Kantar records it as zero.

The collapse in BlackBerry sales points to the problems that have arisen since the company's much-publicised efforts first to sell itself to a private equity group, and then to raise $1bn at the same time as it fired its chief executive Thorsten Heins, who had only been in place since January 2012 after he was promoted to replace the company's founders.

The company itself has said that it will be focussing on corporate sales - and the fall in consumer support seems to suggest that it will have to. Its largest sales share - 3.3% - was recorded in the UK, though that is a relative sales figure, and also does not indicate how many people are already using its handsets.

More significantly, BlackBerry was outsold by Windows Phone handsets in every market reported by Kantar, despite having launched its Z30 handset in September to add to its portfolio.

Apple squash

There was mixed news for Apple in the latest results, which showed that the annual uplift that it gets from a new iPhone release was having less effect than last year: in the five main EU countries (UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and France) its share of sales was just 15.8%, compared to 20.8% a year before. Kantar declined to say how much total sales have grown over that period, making absolute sales comparisons impossible.

Android retains its leading sales position in all markets except Japan, and is most dominant in Spain where it made up 90.1% of all sales - ahead of even of "urban China", where Kantar says that non-Google connected Android systems made up 78.1% of sales.

Worldwide, Japan is the single exception, with iPhone sales making 61.1% of the total in the quarter, and Android sales 36.2%.

EU5 (GB, GER, ITA, SP, FR) smartphone sales data in percent shows a strong seasonal tendency for iPhone sales. Source: Kantar. Photograph: /PR Photograph: PR

Past data from Kantar shows that iPhone sales are strongly seasonal, while Android has increasingly strengthened its grip on the leading position in a number of European countries. Sales of iPhones tend to slow in the period ahead of a launch - in September for the past two years - and then accelerate through to Christmas.

But Kantar said that the iPhone 5C, which is reckoned to have seen slow sales, had nevertheless managed some success. “The cheaper 5C appeals to a broader audience than Apple usually attracts," said Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "In the US, the biggest demand for these mid-end models is coming from lower income households. Some 42% of iPhone 5C owners earn less than $49,000 compared with just 21% for iPhone 5S. iPhone 5C customers also tend to be slightly older at an average of 38 years compared to 34 years for the 5S.

"The good news for Apple is that this wider appeal is attracting significant switching from competitors," Sunnebo added. "Almost half of iPhone 5C owners switched from competitor brands, particularly Samsung and LG, compared with 80% of 5S owners who upgraded from a previous iPhone model.”

Kantar reckons that the high-end 5S model has outsold the 5C by three to one - a figure that is backed up by separate data from Mixpanel, which shows almost exactly the same split for usage - with an acceleration since US Thanksgiving towards the 5S.

Windows Phone: on the advance

Three years after its launch, Microsoft's Windows Phone made strong gains, principally driven by sales of Nokia handsets, and outsold BlackBerry in every market reported in Kantar's figures.

Windows Phone also outsold the iPhone in Italy, by 16.1% to 10.1%, and was at level-pegging in Spain. In the five biggest EU countries, it had a 10.2% sales share, compared to the iPhone's 15.8% share, having nearly doubled its share of the market since a year ago. Kantar declined to give any indication of how the size of the market has grown, though, making it impossible to make precise comparisons.

“Momentum for Windows Phone is continuing, although its growth remains reliant on low-end handsets," commented Sunnebo. "In Britain, almost three quarters of Nokia Lumia sales in the latest period were low-end devices such as the Lumia 520 and 620 – a pattern that is similar across other EU markets.

“China remains a key challenge for Nokia, with its market share languishing at 3.5%. Local Chinese brands are becoming increasingly dominant in the world’s largest smartphone market, selling high specification Android devices at low prices. If Microsoft partnered with a major local brand it could help drive Windows Phone momentum but, with the Nokia takeover imminent, this does not look likely to happen anytime soon.”