Market Trends

Half of Top 10 Global Mobile Phone Vendors See Increased Sales

• By Richard Chang
• 08/19/16

Five of the top 10 worldwide mobile phone vendors increased sales in the second quarter of 2016, according to tech market research firm Gartner.

Compared to Q2 2015, global sales of smartphones grew 4.3 percent year over year, Gartner said. That represents 344 million units sold in Q2 2016, compared to 330 million units sold in Q2 2015.

Overall, the outlook wasn’t as rosy, however, as sales of mobile phones contracted by 0.5 percent in Q2 year over year. Among the vendors showing growth were South Korean giant Samsung and four Chinese companies — Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and BBK Communication Equipment.

Apple witnessed three consecutive quarters of slowing demand, as sales declined 7.7 percent in Q2 year over year. Its market share also declined from 14.6 percent in Q2 2015 to 12.9 percent in Q2 2016.

“Demand for premium smartphones slowed in the second quarter of 2016 as consumers wait for new hardware launches in the second half of the year,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement.

All mature markets except for Japan experienced slowing demand for smartphones, leading to a decline in sales of 4.9 percent. However, all emerging regions except for Latin America saw growth, which led to smartphone sales increasing by 9.9 percent in emerging markets.

In the second quarter of 2016, Samsung enjoyed nearly 10 percent more market share than Apple, according to Gartner. Samsung saw sales of its Galaxy A and Galaxy J series smartphones compete strongly with Chinese manufacturers. Its new smartphone portfolio also helped Samsung win back share it recently lost in emerging markets.

As for Apple, its sales declined in North America (its biggest market) as well as in Western Europe. Moreover, Apple experienced its worst sales decline in greater China and mature Asia/Pacific regions, where sales declined 26 percent. Apple had its best performance in Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe regions in the second quarter of 2016, where iPhone sales grew more than 95 percent year over year.

Among the top five smartphone vendors, Oppo saw the highest growth in the second quarter of 2016, at 129 percent. This was due to strong sales of its R9 handset in China and overseas.

“Features such as anti-shake camera optimized for selfies and rapid charge technology helped Oppo carve a niche market for itself and boost sales in a highly competitive and commoditized smartphone market,” Gupta said.

As for the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Android regained share over iOS to achieve an 86 percent share in the second quarter of 2016. Android’s performance continued to come from demand for mid- to lower end smartphones from emerging markets, but also from premium smartphones, which recorded a 6.5 percent increase in Q2 2016.

“Google is evolving the Android platform fast, which allows Android players to remain at the cutting edge of smartphone technology,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement. “Facing a highly commoditized smartphone market, Google’s focus is to further expand and diversify the Android platform with additional functionalities, like virtual reality, enabling more intelligent experiences and reach into wearables, connected home devices, in-car entertainment and TV.”

More information is available for a fee in the Gartner report, “Market Share Alert: Preliminary, Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 2Q16.”