Apple's the Largest Smartphone Vendor Again, Overtaking Samsung

February 1, 2017

Between October and December 2016, Apple regained the title of world’s largest smartphone vendor, according to independent research firm Strategy Analytics. The news comes after Apple announced record iPhone sales for the company’s first quarter of the fiscal year 2017.

iPhone sales

Credit: Source: Statista

During the all-important holiday quarter, Apple shipped 78.29 million handsets, about 800,000 more units than Samsung. In doing so, Apple grabbed 18 percent of the overall smartphone market.

According to Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics:

This was the iPhone’s best performance for over a year, as Apple capitalized on Samsung’s recent missteps. Samsung shipped 77.5 million smartphones worldwide in Q4 2016, dipping 5 percent annually from 81.3 million units in Q4 2015. Samsung lost momentum in the quarter as a result of its Note 7 battery fiasco. Samsung captured 18 percent share for the quarter and 21 percent share for the full year, its lowest level since 2011.

Global smartphone shipments grew by 3 percent to hit a record 1.5 billion units in 2016. For the year, Samsung remained the largest smartphone vendor with 309 million units shipped. Apple followed with 215 million units.

Huawei (138.8 million), OPPO (84.8 million), and Vivo (71.9 million) rounded out the top five.

On Tuesday, Apple recorded revenue of $78.4 billion and profit of $17.9 billion during the first fiscal quarter of 2017. This represented Apple’s first quarter of growth in a year.