Apple Gains Share of Shrinking Smartphone Market

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 12:11AM EST · Published May 2, 6:25AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Apple Gains Share of Shrinking Smartphone Market — © Thinkstock

Confirming what Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings showed, the company is picking up global market share in the smartphone industry. The bad news is that global smartphone shipments are falling.

According to Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments fell 2% in the first quarter of 2018, compared to the same quarter in 2017, and totaled 353.8 million. The research firm mostly blamed a lack of new products.

While Samsung continues to be the largest smartphone company in the world, Apple is gaining. Its market share moved from 14.4% in the quarter last year to 15.1% in the first quarter of 2018. Samsung’s share dropped slightly from 22.7% to 22.6%. Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, commented:

Samsung shipped 78.2 million smartphones worldwide in Q1 2018, dipping 2 percent annually from 80.2 million units in Q1 2017. Samsung recaptured first place this quarter, after losing top spot to Apple in the previous Q4 2017 holiday season. Samsung is holding steady in its core markets of North America, Western Europe and South Korea, but the company is facing intense competitive pressure in China and India from rivals such as Xiaomi. Apple grew an above-average 3 percent annually and shipped 52.2 million smartphones for 15 percent marketshare worldwide in Q1 2018. Apple iPhone shipments have grown year-on-year in three of the past 4 quarters. Apple’s ultra-premium iPhone X is proving relatively popular in some markets like China and the US, while there remains scope for additional expansion in emerging regions such as India and Africa.

[nativounit]

China’s Xiaomi watched its business surge. Its market share in the first quarter of last year was 3.6%, rising to 8.2%. Research shows it is doing particularity well in India. China’s OPPO suffered from poor results. Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, commented:

Xiaomi shipped an impressive 28.3 million smartphones and jumped to fourth position with a record 8 percent global marketshare in Q1 2018, doubling from 4 percent share a year ago. Xiaomi’s growth soared 125 percent annually in the quarter, outperforming all its major rivals. Xiaomi is expanding like wildfire across Asia, particularly in India. OPPO slipped to fifth place, capturing 7 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q1 2018, tumbling from 8 percent a year ago. OPPO has been hit hard by Xiaomi’s rapid retail expansion and Huawei’s much-improved Android device portfolio.

Apple’s momentum has continued. Now, it needs the market to grow.

[recirclink id=459263]

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.