14 DAY TRIAL // Apple revealed in its earnings report that the iPhone X was the best-selling iPhone model in each week of the March quarter, and now third-party data shows that the anniversary device topped the entire phone market in Europe.
Canalys numbers indicate that in the first quarter of the year, sales of new phones dropped 6.3% year-on-year due to the so-called smartphone fatigue, with Samsung still remaining the leading company but with a major decline as well.
The South Korean phone market experienced a 15.4% decline versus the same quarter of the previous year and shipped 15.2 million units for a 33.1% share. Apple was the runner-up with a drop of 5.4% and 10.2 million sold units, enough to secure a 22.2% share. Huawei took everyone by surprise with a growth of no more, no less than 38.6% and 16.1% share.
iPhone X tops the market
Canalys says Apple’s iPhone X, which so many analysts described as a disappointing model in terms of the sales performance, was “comfortably the best-shipping smartphone in the region.”
“Apple’s larger portfolio strategy will become more important as the year progresses, with over 25% of its Q1 shipments the iPhone SE, 6 and 6S – models that are over two years old. This wider spread of shipments did, however, offset the value growth driven by the pricier iPhone X,” the analyst firm says.
Apple will launch three different iPhone models later this year, all of them based on the existing iPhone X design. The trio will include a more affordable configuration with a 6.1-inch LCD screen, but without features like 3D Touch and dual-camera system.
Canalys reveals that sales of phones with screens larger than 5.5-inch increased more than 50%, and Apple’s 2018 lineup will be well-positioned to tackle this growing demand for bigger devices. Apple will take the wraps off the new-generation iPhone in September.
