The successful launch of the large screen iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ devices has propelled Apple into the number one spot in the global smartphone market.
According to calculations by analyst Gartner, in the fourth quarter of last year, Apple sold 74.8 million handsets, up from 50 million units in the previous quarter. In contrast Samsung - which had held the top spot in the analyst's rankings since 2011 - sold 73 million smartphones, down from 83 million in the previous quarter.
Apple's big screen gamble with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ paid off, as the company "continued to see huge demand" with sales in China and US, growing at 56 percent and 88 percent quarter on quarter respectively, the analyst said.
Apple also generates nearly all the profit in the smartphone market, according to a separate analysis by Strategy Analytics.
As well as attracting new customers, Apple's big-screen phones also persuaded existing users to upgrade to new handsets. "These new smartphones also offered new users, who are looking for larger screen phones, a strong alternative to Android," Gartner said.
In contrast to Apple's barnstorming quarter, Samsung's market share dropped nearly 10 percentage points. "This downward trend shows that Samsung's share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
However, for the full year, Samsung was still comfortably ahead: during 2014, the company sold 307 million smartphones compared to Apple's 191 million devices. Lenovo, Huawei, and LG made up the rest of the top five sellers for 2014. Whether Apple's hold on the number one spot will continue into 2015, after the initial excitement around its large phones has subsided, remains to be seen. Just this week Samung unveiled its Galaxy S6, which could help it regain its crown.
Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner, said that with Apple dominating the premium phone market and Chinese vendors increasingly offering quality hardware at lower prices, Samsung needs to build a solid ecosystem of apps, content, and services unique to Samsung devices to create more loyalty and longer-term differentiation at the high end of the market.
According to calculations by analyst Gartner, in the fourth quarter of last year, Apple sold 74.8 million handsets, up from 50 million units in the previous quarter. In contrast Samsung - which had held the top spot in the analyst's rankings since 2011 - sold 73 million smartphones, down from 83 million in the previous quarter.
Apple's big screen gamble with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ paid off, as the company "continued to see huge demand" with sales in China and US, growing at 56 percent and 88 percent quarter on quarter respectively, the analyst said.
Apple also generates nearly all the profit in the smartphone market, according to a separate analysis by Strategy Analytics.
As well as attracting new customers, Apple's big-screen phones also persuaded existing users to upgrade to new handsets. "These new smartphones also offered new users, who are looking for larger screen phones, a strong alternative to Android," Gartner said.
Smartphone sales Q4 2014 vs Q3 2014, Source: Gartner
Company
|
Q4 2014 units
|
Q4 2014 market share
|
Q3 2014 units
|
Q3 2014 market share
| |||
Apple
|
74.8m
|
20.4
|
50m
|
17.8
| |||
Samsung
|
73m
|
19.9
|
83m
|
29.5
| |||
Lenovo
|
24m
|
6.6
|
16m
|
5.7
| |||
Huawei
|
21m
|
5.7
|
16m
|
5.7
| |||
Xiaomi
|
18.5m
|
5.1
|
5.5
|
2
| |||
In contrast to Apple's barnstorming quarter, Samsung's market share dropped nearly 10 percentage points. "This downward trend shows that Samsung's share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
However, for the full year, Samsung was still comfortably ahead: during 2014, the company sold 307 million smartphones compared to Apple's 191 million devices. Lenovo, Huawei, and LG made up the rest of the top five sellers for 2014. Whether Apple's hold on the number one spot will continue into 2015, after the initial excitement around its large phones has subsided, remains to be seen. Just this week Samung unveiled its Galaxy S6, which could help it regain its crown.
Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner, said that with Apple dominating the premium phone market and Chinese vendors increasingly offering quality hardware at lower prices, Samsung needs to build a solid ecosystem of apps, content, and services unique to Samsung devices to create more loyalty and longer-term differentiation at the high end of the market.
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