Samsung extended its lead in the global smartphone market
over Apple in the second quarter, gaining from the launch of its updated
flagship handsets, surveys showed Thursday.
The South Korean giant delivered 77 million smartphones
in the quarter, up 5.5 percent from a year ago, for a market share of 22.4
percent, research firm IDC said.
That compared with a 15 percent drop in sales for Apple’s
iPhones, which accounted for 11.8 percent, IDC said.
Samsung got a lift from the March launch of its Galaxy S7
and S7 Edge flagship models, with an upgraded processor, waterproofing and
other features, IDC noted.
Apple, despite the launch of its more affordable iPhone
SE, failed to keep pace and reported weaker sales compared to a year ago.
A separate survey by Strategy Analytics had a similar
estimate, with Samsung at 22.8 percent to 11.9 percent for Apple.
Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics,
said he sees Samsung making further gains this year.
“With a new Galaxy Note 7 flagship model rumored to be on
the way, Samsung will be able to strengthen its smartphone leadership into the
second half of the year,” Mawston said.
“Apple continues to face iPhone fatigue among consumers
and the new iPhone SE model has not been able to stem that trend.”
IDC’s Ryan Reith said the saturation of many markets has
forced makers to rethink their strategy. “Apple is beginning to put more
emphasis on ‘device as a service’ to try to prevent lengthening replacement
cycles,” he said.
“This is a growing theme we have heard more about from
PCs to smartphones. Additionally, the overall China market slowdown continues
to ramp up competition in other high growth markets like India, Indonesia, and
Middle East.”
Both surveys showed China’s Huawei the number three
vendor with a 9.4 percent market share.
Other Chinese vendors were in the top five.
According to IDC, Oppo and Vivo were fourth and fifth
with 6.6 and 4.8 percent respectively.
The Strategy Analytics report showed Oppo with 5.3
percent and Xiaomi fifth with 4.3 percent.
IDC said overall smartphone sales rose 0.3 percent to
343.3 million units, while the second survey showed a one percent rise to 340
million.
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