Apple are kings of the UK smartphone market

Apple are top dogs in a wavering UK smartphone market, according to data published by Counterpoint. The American company, in spite of being at the tail end of a sales cycle (for the iPhone 7), managed to beat out fierce rivals Samsung.

Apple sales volume accounted for an impressive 34.4% of shipments in the market in Q3, with Samsung coming in second at a close 34%, Huawei in far third with 13%, and quite surprisingly, Alcatel in fourth with 4%. Motorola rounds up the top five with a paltry 3% of total shipments.

The UK market as a whole saw a decline in Q3—an 8% Year-on-Year drop that mirrors the Chinese market's. This drop is in spite of a 7% rise in the global smartphone market as gleaned from data from other analytics firms. It may be a sign that the more developed markets are getting saturated, paving the way for developing markets in India, Africa, and Latin America.

Specific models in mind, the iPhone 7 was the best selling smartphone in the UK, with Samsung's S8 and S8+ combo making up the top three. Another Samsung offering, the Galaxy J3 comes in fourth, and Huawei's P10 Lite in fifth.