Published in Mobiles

Gartner sees smartphone market grow

by on04 December 2015


15.5 Percent up on last year

Smartphone sales soared 15.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015 compared to this time last year.


Beancounters from market research firm Gartner have added up the numbers and divided by their collective shoe size and decided that the growth stemmed from continued demand for affordable smartphones in emerging markets.

 

The high-end market didn’t do too badly either, it was the mid-range that was the chocolate teapot.

Gartner Research Director Roberta Cozza said that despite the arrival of Windows 10, the Windows smartphone market share will continue to be a small portion of the overall smartphone OS market as consumers remain attracted by competing ecosystems.

“Microsoft smartphones will mainly focus on driving value for enterprise users.”

The top five vendors with the biggest smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2015, according to Gartner.

5. Xiaomi


Xiaomi suffered a market-share setback, with 4.9 percent share of the smartphone market in the third quarter, dropping below the 5.2 percent market share it had in the same quarter last year.
It sold 17.2 million units sold in the third quarter and will release the Redmi Note 2 Pro smartphone as well as a Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 tablet in the coming week. Xiaomi only began selling phones in 2011, its low prices, good specs and solid marketing methods have made the company's Android phones skyrocket in popularity over the past few years, Big G said.

4. Lenovo

Lenovo was tied with Xiaomi in terms of market share for the third quarter of 2015, with 4.9 percent market share and (17.4 million units sold). The Chinese based company, which owns Motorola, captured much less market share in the third quarter of 2015 than it did in the same quarter last year (7.0 percent).

Lenovo drove growth in emerging markets with its entry-level and mid-range phones, launching the Vibe S1, Vibe P1 and Vibe P1m smartphones in September. Looking ahead, Lenovo's third-generation Moto X and Moto G launches will continue to drive growth in 2015, Gartner said.

3. Huawei

Huawei was third in smartphone sales with 27.3 million units sold during the third quarter of 2015. The Chinese company also grew from 5.2 percent market share in the third quarter of 2014 to 7.7 percent this most recent third quarter.

Huawei's growth stemmed from smartphone sales in both its home market and global markets such as Europe. The smartphone company's high brand visibility played a significant role in driving Q3 sales, driven by Huawei's recent releases of the Nexus 6P and Huawei Mate S, Gartner said.

2. Apple

The fruity cargo cult Apple managed gain more converts as it gained the second highest global smartphone sales figure with 46.1 million units. Apple took 13.1 percent of the smartphone market share in the third quarter, showing growth from the same quarter last year when it took 12.5 percent market share.

Apple in September launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, providing upgrades to its large-screened premium iPhone lineup that included a more powerful processor and 3D touch features.

Curiously Big G failed to spot that Apple launched earlier in China which inflated its third quarter figures in comparison to last year.

1. Samsung

Samsung took the top spot with the most global smartphone shipments with 83.6 million units in the third quarter and 23.7 percent share of the smartphone market.

The South Korean company refreshed its flagship smartphone lineup in the third quarter to address slowing demand for its high-end devices and to compete with Apple's large-screened smartphones. In the third quarter, Samsung continued targeting premium handsets with the launch of its new flagship devices, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and its Note 5, in August, Gartner said.

Last modified on 04 December 2015
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