Apple holds onto second place in slightly increased global smartphone market

Apple's 40.4 million iPhones shipped during the June quarter — a 15 percent decline year-over-year — were still enough to keep it in second place in the worldwide smartphone market, which reversed recent trends and grew "modestly," according to research firm Canalys.

Apple didn't see much benefit from the launch of the iPhone SE in late March, which also made little headway in the company's nascent Chinese and Indian markets, commented Canalys' Rushabh Doshi. The analyst blamed the relatively high price of the SE, which while less expensive than the iPhone 6s still starts at $399 in the U.S. In India, many phones sold cost less than $150.

"Consumers instead opted for local vendors, whose build quality and specifications are a better value alternative," Doshi added. China in particular is home to several rising smartphone makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo.

Huawei in fact claimed third place in the smartphone market, selling approximately 31 million phones as it did well in China and expanded its footprint overseas. The company doesn't have much presence in the U.S., although it does make the Google-branded Nexus 6P.

Samsung came out on top, selling about 80 million units worldwide. Canalys' Tim Coulling noted that the company benefited from Gear VR bundles, which for instance saw the headset offered for free with Galaxy S7 preorders. The S7 has sold well as a rule however, and its success along with a shift away from low-end phones has reportedly increased Samsung's average selling price.

On Tuesday, Apple executives claimed that the iPhone SE is "popular in both developed and emerging markets," and that sales have outstripped supply.

13 Comments

ericthehalfbee 4489 comments · 13 Years

About 8 years ago

Yet another stupid report comparing sales of junk phones at $100 to the iPhone.

steveh 480 comments · 19 Years

Units sold is nice for Samsung.Profits on total units sold, maybe not so much.

thewhitefalcon 4444 comments · 10 Years

There's no reason to chase share in the third world. Keep it aspirational.

poksi 482 comments · 11 Years

"Consumers instead opted for local vendors, whose build quality and specifications are a better value alternative,". Hahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahhahaha

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

ericthehalfbee said:

Yet another stupid report comparing sales of junk phones at $100 to the iPhone.

ANALsys have not clue what they are doing especially Indian ones, they treat everything in the world as having equal value. They Comparing a BMW to Yugo, yes they are both cars and get you from point A to B, but which one will get you their the fastest and not kill you has no value in a country like India.

poksi said:

"Consumers instead opted for local vendors, whose build quality and specifications are a better value alternative,". Hahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahhahaha

Yeah they are cheap and buy the cheapest thing they can independent on quality or specifications. I am so tire of this whole conversation about Apple need to make a cheap product for cheap people. How about India figure out how to raise wages so they can actually afford good quality products. China figure it out.