Top 5 global smartphone makers in Q1 2017

Top 5 smartphone makers in Q1 2017
Strategy Analytics has released the list of top 5 global smartphone makers for the first quarter of 2017.

The report said smartphone shipments rose 6 percent to 353.3 million units in Q1 2017.

Samsung regained top position with 23 percent smartphone market share. At the same time, Apple’s smartphone share fell to 14 percent. Samsung had lost its leading position to Apple in Q4 2016.

OPPO surged 78 percent annually.

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Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics, said demand has picked back up and the growth outlook for this year is improving due to economic recovery and stronger consumer sentiment in major regions like China and Brazil.

Samsung shipped 80.2 million smartphones in Q1 2017, rising 2 percent from 79 million units in Q1 2016. The report said Samsung has done well to recover from its Galaxy Note 7 battery fiasco.

Galaxy S8 will help the Korean electronics company to maintain upward momentum through the middle of 2017.

Apple’s unit sales fell 1 percent after shipping 50.8 million smartphones for 14 percent market share. Apple iPhone shipments have declined year-on-year in four of the past 5 quarters. Apple could not cash in on Samsung’s Note 7 battery issues that battered the Korean devices giant.

The mobile phone industry is looking for the upcoming iPhone 8 portfolio in the second half of this year.

Huawei has 10 percent smartphone market share in Q1 2017, increasing from 8 percent a year ago. Huawei’s smartphone growth rate has more than halved, to 22 percent in Q1 2017 against 64 percent in Q1 2016. Huawei is facing competition from OPPO, Vivo and other emerging Chinese rivals such as Gionee.

OPPO shipped 27.6 million smartphones and maintained fourth position with 8 percent market share. OPPO grew 78 percent annually in the quarter, outperforming all its major rivals.

OPPO is two percentage points of marketshare behind Huawei and closing in fast. OPPO could be battling Huawei for third position in the global smartphone market.

Vivo has 6 percent smartphone market share in Q1 2017 against 4 percent a year ago.

Vivo’s range of Android models, such as the V3 and X7, are taking share from rivals such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Apple.

LG returned to 6th place with 4 percent global smartphone share, as it performed well in North America and leapt ahead of ZTE, Xiaomi and others.