Apple expected to topple Samsung in Q4

Samsung has kept a tight grip on the global smartphone market for a while now but there's a chance the South Korean company may soon relinquish first position to competitors Apple. A report by TrendForce has provided data on global shipment and market share figures in the smartphone industry for each quarter of this year, with the analytics firm predicting a decline in Samsung's fortunes, and a rise in Apple's.

While there doesn't seem to be anything concrete about this prediction, TrendForce's speculation is based on the expectation of a decrease in shipments—due to the sheer popularity of iPhones biting off a portion of Samsung high-end devices' shipments. Samsung recorded 81 million shipments in Q3 but is expected to see a drop to 5% to 77 million in the last quarter of the year.

Production of the iPhone X has been lower than expected, due to low yield rates of key components, but the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have propped up Apple sales in the previous quarter. Information from other sources claim that Apple has reached breakthroughs in the productions of some of these components, however, so it's no surprise that TrendForce has predicted a surge in iPhone X productions. Apple is expected to produce an impressive total of 81 million iPhone units this quarter, with the iPhone X accounting for a third of that number.