Samsung remains the clear global leader in smartphone market despite the unfortunate battery explosion of its new entrant device, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, a new smartphone industry statistics released by the U.S. technology research company, IDC, shows.
IDC reveals that Samsung retains its dominance in the world smartphone market at the end of third quarter of this year 2016 with 72.5 million units beating its closest rival, Apple, makers of iPhone at a distant second position with 45.5 million units.
IDC says the smartphones shipment in 3Q 2016 report does not include the Galaxy Note 7 shipments for both recalled and unsold devices in 3Q16, despite which, Samsung still tops the smartphone market with 72.5 million units shipped, and having 20.0% market share within the period.
The report shows that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 362.9 million smartphones worldwide in 3Q 2016, a 5.3% increase from 344.7 million in the second quarter of 2016, and a 1.0% increase compared to 3Q 2015 when vendors shipped 359.3 million units.
Melissa Chau, Associate Research Director, Mobile Devices, IDC, says that “Samsung’s market dominance in the third quarter was unchallenged in the short term even with this high-profile Galaxy Note 7 recall, but the longer term impact on the Samsung brand remains to be seen. If the first recall was a stumble for Samsung, the second recall of replacement devices face-planted the Note series. In a market that is otherwise maturing, Christmas has come early for vendors looking to capitalize with large-screened flagship alternatives like the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel.”
Also commenting, Anthony Scarsella, Research Manager, Mobile Phones at IDC says that “with Samsung’s Note 7 finally laid to rest, both Samsung and other vendors will need to invest both time and money into properly testing devices to avoid a future incident of this proportion. The recall of the Note 7 represents an industry-wide wake-up call that will undoubtedly lead to a more vigorous testing and certification process moving forward.”
The IDC report shows the top five vendors remaining unchanged from last quarter despite the growth from the leading Chinese vendors Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo. While Samsung and Apple continue to challenge each other at the top, these upcoming players have delivered devices that offer consumers top-shelf features at a fraction of the cost compared to the market leaders.
The top 5 Smartphone vendor are highlighted in the table.
| Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q3 2016 Preliminary Data (Units in Millions) | |||||
| Vendor | 3Q16 Shipment Volumes | 3Q16 Market Share | 3Q15 Shipment Volumes | 3Q15 Market Share | Year-Over-Year Change |
| Samsung | 72.5 | 20.0% | 83.8 | 23.3% | -13.5% |
| Apple | 45.5 | 12.5% | 48.0 | 13.4% | -5.3% |
| Huawei | 33.6 | 9.3% | 27.3 | 7.6% | 23.0% |
| OPPO | 25.3 | 7.0% | 11.4 | 3.2% | 121.6% |
| vivo | 21.2 | 5.8% | 10.5 | 2.9% | 102.5% |
| Others | 164.8 | 45.4% | 178.2 | 49.6% | -7.5% |
| Total | 362.9 | 100.0% | 359.3 | 100.0% | 1.0% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, October 26, 2016.
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