AppleInsider Staff
South Korean electronics giant Samsung and California-based Apple remained the two largest sellers of smartphones around the world in the second quarter, data released this week shows, while Chinese brands like Huawei and Xiaomi continue to make inroads.
Samsung took 26.8 percent of the market in the second quarter of this year, according to market research firm TrendForce. Apple dipped slightly from 20.5 percent in the first quarter to 16.4 percent in the second, though that still represents an impressive showing for the company in the traditionally slow period.
Apple is widely expected to announce sales of 50 million or more iPhones in the second quarter during its earnings call later Tuesday, which would be yet another new quarterly sales record.
Apple's share remains more than double that of its closest competitor — Â Chinese firm Huawei, which snagged 7.6 percent — Â even as Chinese handset makers ride a surge in popularity. Apple copycat Xiaomi leapfrogged South Korea's LG to take fourth place with 5.9 percent of the market, thanks in part to the underwhelming performance of LG's latest G4 flagship.
Overall, growth in the worldwide smartphone market continues to slow, inching upward just 1.9 percent in the second quarter. That relatively weak figure can be partially credited to an increasingly saturated market and partially to Apple and Samsung's refresh cycles, which push many consumers to wait until the third calendar quarter of each year to purchase new devices.
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24 Comments
I wouldn't call that a "slight" dip, as it's about 20%. But I question the accuracy of it anyway. Most of those numbers can't be verified. Samsung doesn't release quarterly sales, or shipment numbers for smartphones and tablets, so those are just guesses. Chinese companies numbers can't be trusted,even if they do release them. It makes this a very difficult game to play.
What a moronic, useless chart. Why should I or anyone care how many low end phones Samsung sells, which make up the majority of its sales, and which are at price points that Apple has no interest competing with?
I wouldn't call that a "slight" dip, as it's about 20%. But I question the accuracy of it anyway. Most of those numbers can't be verified. Samsung doesn't release quarterly sales, or shipment numbers for smartphones and tablets, so those are just guesses. Chinese companies numbers can't be trusted,even if they do release them.
It makes this a very difficult game to play.
Which is why Apple is smart to largely ignore the numbers game. Because it's a game with rules outside their control.
[quote name="Slurpy" url="/t/187290/apple-samsung-continue-to-pace-global-smartphone-market-as-xiaomi-jumps-into-top-5#post_2750419"]What a moronic, useless chart. Why should I or anyone care how many low end phones Samsung sells, which make up the majority of its sales, and which are at price points that Apple has no interest competing with?[/quote] It's a complicated question. But everything's tied together. There is a psychological factor at work. If people you know are using a particular phone, or OS, there's a greater chance that you will use that next time. Users tend to be evangelists of the platorm, and influence others. The more people who you see using a platform, the more likely you are to buy into it. When I say "you", or course, I'm using the general meaning of the word. But a platform that's rising tends to sustain that rise, while a platform that's falling tends to sustain that fall. Something major needs to occur to change that. So if Apple's marketshare is rising, it will tend to continue that rise. People, in general, look at something that's successful, and want to ride it out. When something looks to be dying, they abandon it. So these numbers are important, as they reinforce people's beliefs as to their correct choice. And yes, I constantly tell people that Apple doesn't compete in the low end, and that's why their numbers are all the more impressive.
I wouldn't call that a "slight" dip, as it's about 20%. But I question the accuracy of it anyway. Most of those numbers can't be verified. Samsung doesn't release quarterly sales, or shipment numbers for smartphones and tablets, so those are just guesses. Chinese companies numbers can't be trusted,even if they do release them.
It makes this a very difficult game to play.
We should all know by now that market share is meaningless in terms of Apple products. That other manufacturers sell more gadgets while Apple takes in most of the profit is the important part to focus on. Market share has not cause developers to flee the platform. On the contrary developers know they can actually make money making iOS and now Watch OS apps.