Samsung Pips Apple as iPhone Sales Extend Decline
Samsung Electronics continued to be the global market leader in smartphones after it registered a 6.5 percent sales growth year-on-year for the second quarter of 2016. In contrast, rival Apple Inc. witnessed a third straight quarter of decline as sales fell 8.3 percent, according to data compiled by research firm Gartner.
Samsung saw its market share in the second quarter improve to 22.3 percent, almost 10 percent higher than that of Apple, whose market share contracted to 12.9 percent on a yearly basis, Gartner said in a press release.
The South Korean manufacturer's new smartphone portfolio helped it win back the market share it had lost in emerging markets. Its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series posed fierce competition to smartphones by Chinese manufacturers, the release added.
Apple saw sales decline in its two biggest markets – North America and western Europe. The worst affected markets were Greater China and the Asia-Pacific region where the company's sales numbers took a 26 percent hit. Performance in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe regions was strong where sales increased over 95 percent year-on-year.
Chinese Dominance
Global smartphone sales stood at 344 million units, 4.3 percent higher than the same period in 2015, according to Gartner. Overall mobile phone sales, however, decreased by 0.5 percent led mainly by the 14 percent contraction in sales of feature phones. Feature phones are phones with internet and multimedia capabilities but lacking the advanced functions of a smartphone.
Sales grew for only five of the top 10 mobile phone vendors by market share. Of these five, four were Chinese manufacturers – Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and BBK Communication Equipment.
Oppo's yearly sales growth of 129 percent was the highest in the second quarter, and was aided largely by its R9 handset in China as well as overseas markets, the report stated. The company's innovative feature offerings boosted sales, Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner said in the press release.
Features such as an anti-shake camera optimised for selfies, and rapid charge technology, helped Oppo carve a niche market for itself and boost sales in a highly competitive and commoditised smartphone market.Anshul Gupta, Research Director, Gartner
Android Leads The Race
Google's Android operating system constituted 86.2 percent of the OS market and saw a 400 basis point increase on the back of strong demand for mid to lower-end smartphones from emerging markets, according to Gartner.
Apple iOS' market share in this quarter contracted to 12.9 percent from 14.6 percent the same quarter last year. Windows owned 0.6 percent of the OS market while Blackberry accounted for 0.1 percent.
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