Apple ahead of both Samsung and Huawei in smartphone race

According to market analytics firm Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market continued to grow throughout the end of last year. Q4 2016 experienced a growth of 8 percent YoY with over three-quarters of all sales being represented by only 10 manufacturers.

The biggest takeaway from the data is that Samsung has fallen behind Apple in worldwide smartphone shipments at 17.8 percent versus 17.9 percent from the Cupertino company. The Galaxy Note 7 kerfuffle may have been partly responsible for the lower Samsung smartphones sales that had allowed Apple to catch up during the quarter. When taking into account both smartphones and budget cellphones, however, Samsung comes out on top in terms of combined worldwide shipments.

Chinese manufacturers make up the rest of the top 7 list. Huawei is a distant third at 10.3 percent followed by Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE at 7.1 percent, 5.4 percent, and 3.9 percent, and 3.7 percent, respectively. 

The overall mobile market is showing signs of growth especially in developing regions such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Africa. These areas are expected to be attractive opportunities for major manufacturers to push their latest gadgets early and ahead of the competition before the marketplace becomes saturated.

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