So the inevitable has finally happened. According to the latest report by research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple Inc. sales has taken over their only real rivals, Samsung, over the course of the fourth quarter in 2016.
Apple reportedly sold 78.3 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2016, whereas their arch rivals Samsung managed to sell “only” 77.5 million phones.
The reason behind apple’s incredible sales is obvious: the release of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which made the company discontinue their flagship phones following the reports of their battery bursting into flames in several accidents.
If the entire 2016 is taken into account, Samsung still leads by a large margin with the total sales of 309.4 million phones to Apple’s 215.4 million units. Because Samsung sells many versions of their smartphones at different price points, while Apple only sells three different variants of their iPhone (along with older models), all of which are considered “high-end” phones.
Third in line was Huawei, followed by Oppo and Vivo. The market share stats were led by Apple for the fourth quarter of 2016, taking up 17.8% of the customers followed by Samsung’s 17.7% and Huawei’s 10.2%. The yearly market share analysis was won by Samsung’s 20.8% followed by Apple’s 14.5% and Huawei with 9.3%. Oppo and Vivo rounded up the list with 5.7% and 4.8% market shares, with all the other vendors (combined) took the rest 44.9% of the market.
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