14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve already heard that the iPhone 8 performed well below expectations, which is more or less to be expected given that most buyers waited for the iPhone X, but new data from market analyst firm Canalys points to sales which can be anything but exciting for the Cupertino-based tech giant.
More specifically, the iPhone 7, which was launched in the fall of 2016, was the best-selling smartphone in the third quarter of this year with no less than 13 million units shipped to customers across the world, followed by none other than the iPhone 6s with 7.9 million units.
The Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime is third in the charts with 7.8 million units, with two Oppo models, namely the A57 and the R11, coming next with 7.8 million and 7.2 million sold units, respectively.
Samsung still number one phone maker
The surprising thing is that neither the Samsung Galaxy S8 nor the iPhone 8 reached the top 5, and Canalys says that Apple improved mostly thanks to older models, and not to the new-generation iPhone.
“Shipments of older devices, such as the iPhone 6s and SE, saw an uptick in Q3,” said Canalys analyst Ben Stanton.
“The iPhone 7 also shipped strongly after its price cut in September. Apple grew in Q3, but it was these older, cheaper models that propped up total iPhone shipments. Apple is clearly making a portfolio play here. With the launch of the iPhone X, it now has five tiers of iPhone and delivers iOS at more price bands than ever before. This is a new strategy for Apple. It is aggressively defending its market share, but it will not compromise its rigid margin structure to do so.”
But while Apple improved during the quarter, Samsung continues to be the top phone maker worldwide thanks to its rich portfolio. The company sold a total of 10.3 million devices in the Galaxy S8 series, with total shipments reaching 82.8 million during the quarter, up 8.2 percent to a market share of 22 percent. Apple is only the runner-up with 46.7 million units sold during the said period and a 12.4 percent share.
