Smartphone shipments: Samsung steals crown from Apple again

Apple edged out Samsung in Q4 2016 smartphone shipments, according to statistics by the IDC. But now, the analytics firm’s Q1 2017 stats show that Samsung is back on top.

According to the IDC, Samsung saw its marketshare jump from 18% in Q4 2016 to 23.3% in Q1 2017 — no doubt helped by the Galaxy S8 and its 2017 mid-range devices.

Meanwhile, Apple, which traditionally enjoys a strong Q4 thanks to iPhone launches, dropped from 18.2% in Q4 to 14% in Q1 2017.

Huawei and Vivo also saw slight drops in marketshare from Q4 2016 to Q1 2017. Huawei dropped from 10.5% to 10%, while Vivo dipped from 5.7% to 5.5%.

Samsung wasn’t the only company listed by IDC to see gains though, with Oppo seeing a modest increase from 7.3% to 7.5%.

In terms of year-on-year growth, Samsung and Apple both see smaller marketshare numbers compared to Q1 2016. Meanwhile, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei all see increased marketshare compared to a year ago.

Samsung is back on top for Q1 2017, but expect the fourth quarter to be key for Apple

“Substantial discounts on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge helped move last year’s flagships as they make way for the new S8 and S8+,” the IDC  wrote of Samsung. “Outside of the high end, the product mix continues to shift toward more affordable models. The J-Series and A-Series drove significant volumes in both emerging and developed markets thanks to flagship-like design at more affordable price points.”

The analytics firm noted that Apple “dropped slightly with shipments reaching 50.7 million units in the first quarter, down from the 51.2 million shipped in Q1 last year”.