Samsung continue to lead in global smartphone sales
Thanks to strong Note 8 and S8/S8+ sales and strong midrange sales, Samsung has continued to dominate global smartphone market. Out of 383 million units sold across the globe, Samsung has managed to hit 85.6 million units. Apple came in second and Huawei continued in third spot. Surprise though is Xiaomi’s entry. With extremely strong sales in India, Xiaomi managed to enter top 5. OPPO maintained its #4 spot. China continue to be the biggest smartphone market, followed by Emerging APAC region.
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 3Q17 (Thousands of Units)
|
Vendor |
3Q17 Units |
3Q17 Market Share (%) |
3Q16 Units |
3Q16 Market Share (%) |
|
Samsung |
85,605.3 |
22.3 |
71,733.5 |
19.3 |
|
Apple |
45,441.9 |
11.9 |
43,000.7 |
11.6 |
|
Huawei |
36,501.8 |
9.5 |
32,489.5 |
8.7 |
|
OPPO |
29,449.2 |
7.7 |
24,590.8 |
6.6 |
|
Xiaomi |
26,853.2 |
7.0 |
14,926.1 |
4.0 |
|
Others |
159,552.1 |
41.6 |
185,501.5 |
49.8 |
|
Total |
383,403.5 |
100.0 |
372,242.0 |
100.0 |
Source: Gartner (November 2017)
“Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017 (see Table 1),” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “Emerging Asia/Pacific (15 percent increase) and North America (11.2 percent increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter.”
“In emerging Asia Pacific, both Samsung and Huawei saw healthy demand as along with Xiaomi and Vivo, which were able to grow their footprint outside their home markets,” added Mr. Gupta. “In North America, Samsung was the driving force in the quarter due to its new flagship products.”
Samsung’s smartphone sales recorded a double-digit increase (19.3 percent) in the third quarter of 2017. “Renewed pushes of the newly designed Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 smartphones have brought back growing demand for Samsung smartphones, which helped it compete against Chinese manufacturers and deliver a solid performance in the quarter,” said Mr. Gupta. “”The last time Samsung achieved a double-digit growth was in the fourth quarter of 2015.”
Coming to regions, China has continued to be the largest market for smartphone sales and is ahead by wide margin. APAC (excluding China) is now #2 and North American is in #3 spot.
Table 2
Top-Five Regions for Smartphone Sales to End Users in 3Q17 (Thousands of Units)
|
Vendor |
3Q17 Units |
3Q17 Market Share (%) |
3Q16 Units |
3Q16 Market Share (%) |
|
Greater China |
107,129.0 |
27.9 |
120,343.9 |
32.3 |
|
Emerging APAC |
81,549.0 |
21.3 |
70,927.8 |
19.1 |
|
North America |
47,511.3 |
12.4 |
42,722.9 |
11.5 |
|
Western Europe |
36,019.8 |
9.4 |
32,900.7 |
8.8 |
|
Latin America |
33,553.5 |
8.8 |
31,162.0 |
8.4 |
|
Others |
77,640.9 |
20.2 |
74184.7 |
19.9 |
|
Total |
383,403.5 |
100.0 |
372,242.0 |
100.0 |
Source: Gartner (November 2017)
“The arrival of Apple’s new flagship iPhones at the end of the third quarter of 2017 has delayed smartphone purchases into the fourth quarter of 2017,” said Mr. Gupta. “Following compelling offers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the holiday season will likely boost sales of smartphones before the end of the year. We estimate the fourth quarter’s smartphone sales will boost total sales for the full year. We expect smartphone sales will reach 1.57 billion units in 2017,” concluded Mr. Gupta.
