Smartphone shipments still robust, but growth slowing

We still have a massive appetite for smartphones, but there are early signs that the market’s spectacular growth is slowing.

According to a new report released by Juniper Research, smartphone shipments reached 338 million in Q2 2015, representing a year-on-year growth of 16%.

The research house suggests that this represents an increasing maturity in the smartphone space, with the potential for new smartphone users gradually slowing.

China on the rise

Even within that context though, there’s still room for emerging players to see serious growth. The launch of the P8 for instance helped Huawei to nearly 50% year-on-year growth. Xiaomi, its nearest rival, shipped 20.5-million units in the quarter, representing an increase of a third compared to this time last year.

Read more: Smartphone shipments grow in Middle East, Africa as affordable devices become popular

Juniper does however note that Huawei’s global efforts could give it edge on its rivals, especially as the Chinese smartphone market continues to slow down. This slowdown is already affecting ZTE.

Samsung’s woes continue

Still, none of the Chinese players seem to be suffering as badly as Samsung. The Korean manufacturer, which once ruled the smartphone roost, saw a continued decline in shipments. That’s largely thanks to issues with the release of the S6 and S6 Edge. Even without those issues though, sales have been disappointing enough to force it to discount the S6.

No slowing Apple down

No matter what competition it faces, the same cannot be said of Apple. Fueled by growth in China, where its revenues grew 112% to over US$13-billion, the Cupertino-based giant sold some 47.5-million iPhones in the quarter.

The other noteworthy figure comes from Microsoft, which despite writing off its US$7.6-billion purchase of Nokia, shipped 8.4-million devices in the quarter, an 12% increase over last year.

After a brief resurgence, LG’s 14.1-million shipments for the quarter represented a year-on-year decline of just under three percent.

It also seems there’s no way back for BlackBerry, with shipments just above the 1 million mark as the release schedule is slashed from four phones a year to one or two.