14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung continues to be the world’s number one smartphone brand despite a difficult first quarter in 2018, as the company dropped 2.4 percent at a time when rival Apple scored a substantial increase.
IDC data shows that Samsung sold a total of 78.2 million phones in Q1 2018, down from 80.1 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Apple’s iPhone sales reached 52.2 million, up from 50.8 million.
Only 334.3 million phones were sold during the quarter, down 2.9% versus the same period in 2017, and IDC says shipments in China, in particular, fell significantly, dropping below 100 million for the first time since 2013.
Xiaomi increased no more, no less than 87.8 percent during the quarter, as its shipments skyrocketed from 14.8 million units to 28 million units. Huawei was the company posting the second-biggest growth worldwide, jumping from 34.5 million units sold to 39.3 million, up 13.3 percent year-over-year.
Samsung and Apple performance
IDC says Samsung is expected to return to growth next quarter thanks to the debut of the new Galaxy S9 flagship lineup of models.
“Although the new flagships shipped late in the quarter, brisk initial sales of the new devices kept the overall yearly decline at a minimum as the bulk of the positive impact is expected to arrive in Q2 2018. Despite the late launch, the high-priced devices should significantly boost average selling prices (ASPs) in the quarter for Samsung. Outside of the new flagships, the A series and J series continued to drive most of the key volume in both developed and emerging markets,” IDC notes.
Apple shipped 52.2 million iPhones in the first quarter and iPhone X was the best-selling model in every week in the March quarter, beating the more affordable iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. This represents a growth of 2.8% year-over-year, and the 2018 iPhone trio is expected to contribute to an even bigger increase towards the end of the year after the September launch.