14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new report by Gartner, global sales of smartphones reached a level of 380 million units during the first quarter of 2017, marking an increase of 9.1% compared to Q1 2016. The report shows that consumers have started spending more on a new phone, thus generating a rise in the average selling prices for phones.
The shift in consumer behavior comes to the benefit of Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, which manage to provide customers with affordable devices that feature satisfactory performance. The combined market share of Chinese manufacturers rose 7% in the first quarter, reaching 24%.
Competitive pricing and the high quality of Chinese smartphones seem to please customers, in addition to aggressive marketing and sales promotions, according to Gartner. These elements have helped Chinese companies increase their share in markets like India, Indonesia, and Thailand.
During the same period of time, Samsung’s smartphone sales dropped 3.1%, while Apple saw sales declining by 1.1% to 13.7% in the first quarter of the year. The two companies still hold the top position in the market, with Samsung leading the sales and managing to reach a 20.7% market share.
Samsung and Apple face fierce competition from Chinese smartphone makers
But both Samsung and Apple have faced fierce competition from Chinese smartphone makers, especially Samsung which couldn’t provide a viable alternative to the Galaxy Note 7, according to the report.
"Sales of iPhones were flat, which led to a drop in market share year over year. Similar to Samsung, Apple is increasingly facing fierce competition from Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo, among others, and its performance in China is under attack," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.
Huawei occupies the third position in the market, after selling 34 million units in Q1, with the P9 and P9 Plus being favorites among consumers.
In terms of smartphone sales based on mobile operating system, Android is in the lead with 86.1% of the market, up 2%, followed by iOS with a lower market share compared to last year, and other OSes, which make up just 0.2% of the market.
