Android strengthens its leadership in global smartphone market

Gartner has just released its smartphone sales report for the first quarter of this year, and according to the provided info, worldwide smartphone sales grew by 9 percent this time around. Companies sold a total of 380 million smartphones in Q1 2017, which is a 9.1 percent increase compared to the same quarter last year. Gartner also says that consumers are spending more to get a better phone now, which actually caused a rise in average selling price for smartphones.

Now, the company also says that Chinese smartphone manufacturers are driving sales yet again, high-quality devices, really solid specs and affordable price points are yet again a characteristic for some OEMs. That being said, Gartner also released a chart, showing off who sold the most device on a global scale in the first quarter this year, and the company also compared those with sales from a year ago. Samsung is in the lead, the company had managed to sell 78,67 million smartphones in Q1, and is currently holding a 20.7 percent market share, which is a decrease compared to a year ago, as the company was holding 23.3 percent of the smartphone market back then. Apple is trailing behind, the Cupertino giant sold 51,99 million units in Q1 2017, and managed to grab onto 13.7 percent of the market, which is also a decrease compared to Q1 2016, as the company held 14.8 percent of the market back then.

These two tech giants are followed by three Chinese companies, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo. Huawei sold 34,18 million smartphones in the first quarter, and grabbed onto 9% of the market, while OPPO and Vivo managed to sell 30,92 million and 25,84 million devices, respectively. 8.1 percent of the smartphone market belonged to OPPO in the first quarter of this year, while Vivo managed to grab 6.8 percent. All three of those Chinese companies have increased their stake in the smartphone market YoY, and have also sold considerably more devices. Now, when we combine all those market shares, we’re left with 41.7 percent, which means that these five companies are in possession of over half of the global smartphone market, which is quite impressive.

Now, on top of all this, it’s also worth noting that Gartner released OS market shares as well, and Android is in the lead with 86.1 percent, while iOS is trailing behind with only 13.7 percent, which leaves only 0.2 percent for other operating systems. These stats are also for the first quarter of this year, just in case you were wondering, and Android basically increased its market share from 84.1 percent from Q1 2016, while iOS’ market share dropped from 14.8 percent to 13.7 percent.