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30 November, 2017

Global smartphone market grew 3% in Q317: Gartner

Global sales of smartphones to end users hit 383 million units in Q317, a 3% increase over the same period in 2016, according to Gartner. All of the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth apart from Apple, which achieved a 5.7% increase.

"Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017 (see table 1)," said Anshul Gupta, Research Director at Gartner. “Emerging Asia Pacific (15% increase) and North America (11.2% increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter.”

"In emerging Asia Pacific, both Samsung and Huawei saw healthy demand as along with Xiaomi and Vivo, which were able to grow their footprint outside their home markets," added Gupta. 

Samsung’s smartphone sales recorded a double-digit increase (19.3%) in Q317. "Renewed pushes of the newly designed Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 smartphones have brought back growing demand for Samsung smartphones, which helped it compete against Chinese manufacturers and deliver a solid performance in the quarter," said Gupta. "The last time Samsung achieved a double-digit growth was in the fourth quarter of 2015."

Apple returned to growth in China and also saw strong sales in many of the emerging markets, including India. This is due to the continued sales of legacy iPhones, including the iPhone 5S which retails at around a US$240 street price in most markets, Gartner said.
Table 1: Worldwide smartphone sales to end users by vendor in Q317 (thousands of units)
Vendor
Q317
Units
Q317 Market Share (%)
Q316
Units
Q316 Market Share (%)
Samsung
85,605.3
22.3
71,733.5
19.3
Apple
45,441.9
11.9
43,000.7
11.6
Huawei
36,501.8
9.5
32,489.5
8.7
OPPO
29,449.2
7.7
24,590.8
6.6
Xiaomi
26,853.2
7.0
14,926.1
4.0
Others
159,552.1
41.6
185,501.5
49.8
Total
383,403.5
100.0
372,242.0
100.0
Source: Gartner (November 2017)

Xiaomi achieved the strongest growth, exhibiting an 80% increase in Q317. Xiaomi's growth came more from international markets than from China, where it faces strong competition from Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. India continues to be the biggest and highest-growth market for Xiaomi outside of China.

Greater China exhibited a decline of 11% in the third quarter due to consolidation around local and lesser-known brands (see table 2). Buyers are preferring known and high-priced smartphones, which is cannibalising demand of budget smartphones from local brands.

Table 2: Top-five regions for smartphone sales to end users in Q317 (thousands of units)
Vendor
Q317
Units
Q317 Market Share (%)
Q316
Units
Q316 Market Share (%)
Greater China
107,129.0
27.9
120,343.9
32.3
Emerging APAC
81,549.0
21.3
70,927.8
19.1
North America
47,511.3
12.4
42,722.9
11.5
Western Europe
36,019.8
9.4
32,900.7
8.8
Latin America
33,553.5
8.8
31,162.0
8.4
Others
77,640.9
20.2
74184.7
19.9
Total
383,403.5
100.0
372,242.0
100.0
Source: Gartner (November 2017)

Leading Chinese manufacturers Oppo, Huawei, Vivo and Xiaomi continued to drive sales across emerging markets, led by their midprice and budget smartphones with a focus on 4G connectivity and better cameras.

"The arrival of Apple's new flagship iPhones at the end of the third quarter of 2017 has delayed smartphone purchases into the fourth quarter of 2017," said Gupta. "Following compelling offers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the holiday season will likely boost sales of smartphones before the end of the year. We estimate the fourth quarter’s smartphone sales will boost total sales for the full year. We expect smartphone sales will reach 1.57 billion units in 2017," concluded Mr. Gupta.

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