Global smartphone sales reach 375 million units as of Q1 2017

Analysts from Counterpoint Research have made public their tracking data on global smartphone shipments during the first quarter of this year. Accordingly, the smartphone market has expanded a healthy 10.6 percent year over year from 337.2 million units in Q1 2016 to 375 million units in Q1 2017. The catch, however, is that most of this growth is concentrated within just a handful of regions including Africa, India, the Middle East, and parts of Asia and Europe.

Just ten smartphone manufacturers are responsible for nearly three-quarters of all smartphones shipped worldwide. Perhaps notably, the market for premium smartphones - identified as $400 USD and over - has grown significantly and now makes up 20 percent of all smartphones sold. This means that budget-mainstream models like the Samsung Galaxy J series or the Huawei Honor A series could be slipping in favor of their pricier Galaxy S or Huawei P equivalents.

Samsung is still the best-selling smartphone brand around the world with Apple and Huawei a distant second and third place, respectively. The Chinese brands Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo are all shipping more smartphones YoY with this latest quarter bringing in 34.6 million units, 25.5 million units, and 22.7 million units worldwide, respectively.

As for others, shipments from LG are up by 10 percent for a total of 14.8 million units while Xiaomi slips 9 percent with 1.3 million fewer units shipped compared to a year earlier. Lenovo, ZTE, and Alcatel remain fairly stagnant.

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