Samsung has ‘overtaken’ BlackBerry to become South African desktop internet users’ smartphone brand of choice.

This is according to a survey by digital audience measurement company Effective Measure and IAB South Africa of desktop users’ attitudes and uses of mobile phones.

The survey, conducted with 5,113 desktop internet users between May-June 2014, found that the majority in this category own Samsung smartphone brands.

The survey claims 39.4% of South African desktop internet users own a Samsung smartphone brand. Meanwhile, BlackBerry and Nokia follow with 31.6% and 29.7% respectively.

“Samsung has overtaken BlackBerry to become the leader in mobile phone providers followed by Nokia. Apple is still fourth with 14.1% but gaining market share,” the survey reads.

“The relatively lower ranking of Apple’s iPhone in South Africa is mainly attributed to the pricing structure as numerous studies have shown that South Africans find iPhone to be quite expensive,” the survey states.

Alan Morrissey, Effective Measure country managing director, told ITWeb Africa that the study particularly looked at desktop internet users, which form part of a higher living standards measurements (LSM) market.

But World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck says while Samsung is forecast to overtake BlackBerry in South Africa by year-end across all smartphone market segments, he does not think it has happened as of yet.

“If we look at the operating systems, however, Android will overtake BlackBerry this year,” Goldstuck told ITWeb Africa.

“We predict that by the end of this year there will be more than six million Android smartphones and about five million BlackBerry smartphones,” he noted.

Currently, South Africa has more than 16 million smartphone users, Goldstuck added.