A Strategy Analytics report said smartphone shipments dipped 2 percent to 345.4 million units in Q1 2018 from 353.8 million units in Q1 2017.
Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics, said: “The global smartphone market has slowed down this year, due to longer replacement rates, diminishing carrier subsidies, and a lack of new hardware design innovation.”
Samsung
Samsung shipped 78.2 million smartphones in Q1 2018, dipping 2 percent annually from 80.2 million units in Q1 2017.
Samsung recaptured first place in the global smartphone market this quarter, after losing top spot to Apple in the previous Q4 2017 holiday season.
Samsung is holding steady in its core markets of North America, Western Europe and South Korea.
Samsung is facing competitive pressure in China and India from rivals such as Xiaomi.
Apple
Apple grew at 3 percent by shipping 52.2 million smartphones for 15 percent share. Apple iPhone shipments have grown year-on-year in three of the past 4 quarters. Apple’s ultra-premium iPhone X is proving relatively popular in some markets like China and the US, while there remains scope for additional expansion in emerging regions such as India and Africa.”
Huawei
Huawei maintained third position with 11 percent smartphone market share vs 10 percent a year ago.
Huawei’s smartphone growth rate was 14 percent annually in the quarter. Despite political headwinds in North America, Huawei gained momentum across all other regions in the rest of the world, with popular new models such as the Honor 7X.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi shipped 28.3 million smartphones and jumped to fourth position with 8 percent share, vs 4 percent share a year ago.
Xiaomi’s growth surged 125 percent annually in the quarter. Xiaomi is expanding across Asia, particularly in India.
OPPO
OPPO slipped to fifth place, capturing 7 percent vs 8 percent share a year ago. OPPO has been hit hard by Xiaomi’s rapid retail expansion and Huawei’s much-improved Android device portfolio.
