Apple takes top spot in Q4 but Samsung reigns in 2017
WASHINGTON: Apple overtook Samsung in the fourth quarter as the largest smartphone producer in a declining global market for handsets, said research firm IDC on Friday.
A survey by IDC showed Apple — which reported its quarterly data on Thursday — led all vendors with 77.3 million iPhones sold, giving it a 19.2 per cent market share.
Even though Apple’s fourthquarter unit sales were down 1.3 per cent from a year earlier, it was able to move ahead of South Korea’s Samsung, whose 74.1 million devices sold gave it a market share of 18.4 per cent, said IDC.
Huawei held the No. 3 position with a 10.2 per cent market share, followed by fellow Chinese makers Xiaomi and Oppo, with seven and 6.8 per cent, respectively, according to IDC.
Overall, smartphone sales were down 6.3 per cent in the quarter, with 403.5 million handsets shipped, according to the survey.
IDC said the data showed consumers appeared in no rush to upgrade to the most expensive flagship smartphones from Apple and Samsung.
Samsung, which reported a 4.4 per cent decline in the fourth quarter, remained the top smartphone vendor for the full year with a 21.6 per cent market share, to Apple’s 14.7 per cent, said IDC.
Overall, smartphone sales for last year were virtually flat — down 0.1 per cent at 1.47 billion units, said the report.