Apple might have lost some significant market share in India but in global terms, the company continues to rule the smartphone market. A recent research done by folks at Strategic Analytics have claimed that iPhone 7 was the best-selling smartphone in the first quarter of 2017. Apple sold 21.5 million units in Q1 2017 capturing a total market share of 6.1 percent. Meanwhile, global smartphone shipments increased to 353.3 million units in Q1 2017 from 333.1 million units in Q1 2016.
“Global smartphone shipments reached a robust 353.3 million units in Q1 2017. The top-five most popular models together accounted for 1 in 6 of all smartphones shipped worldwide during the quarter.” – said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics.
Interestingly, the second spot was taken by the elder sibling i.e. iPhone 7 Plus with 17.4 million units sold capturing a market share of 4.9 percent. Apple iPhone 7 Plus was more popular in most regions including India, courtesy of its bigger 5.5-inch display and a dual-camera at the back.
Apart from the two iPhones, the third spot was taken by Oppo’s R9s. The company shipped 8.9 million units of the R9s with a market share of 2.5 percent.
OPPO is largely unknown in the Western world, but its brand is wildly popular in China and growing rapidly across India. The R9s is OPPO’s flagship 4G device with key features such as Dual-SIM connectivity and fingerprint security.” – said Neil.
The fourth and fifth spot were taken by Samsung’s budget friendly offering i.e. Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) and Galaxy J5 (2016) which managed a sale volume of 6.1 million and 5 million respectively. Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) sales doubled up from Q1 2016 while all the other smartphones in the list were launched post-Q1 2016. The Galaxy J3 grabbed a market share of 1.7 percent while the Galaxy J5 took 1.4 percent.
This is interesting to note as Apple was reported to lose out on crucial sales figures recently because there is too much hype about the next iPhone. Apple will be celebrating its 10 years of iPhone and the upcoming member to the list does look promising. The upcoming iPhone 8 is expected to come with an edge-to-edge display and a fingerprint scanner, which some expect to be placed beneath the display. Further, recent leaks have hinted a vertical dual camera at the back and wireless charging will something which a lot of people have been waiting for.