Despite the Galaxy Note 7 worldwide recall, Samsung has managed to defend the top smartphone seller crown for the third straight quarters of 2016. It was revealed in the smartphone market share report for the third quarter ending September 2016 by market watchdog International Data Corporation (IDC).
It is believed that the flagship Galaxy S7 (& S7 edge) and the affordable J series are the driving force for Samsung's device shipment breaching 72 million mark in both developed and emerging markets.
That said, the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco is expected to have a real impact on Samsung's device shipments in the fourth quarter (October-December), which is a festive season in developed markets.
"Samsung's market dominance in the third quarter was unchallenged in the short term even with this high-profile Galaxy Note 7 recall, but the longer term impact on the Samsung brand remains to be seen," said Melissa Chau, associate research director, Mobile Devices, said in a statement.
"If the first recall was a stumble for Samsung, the second recall of replacement devices face-planted the Note series. In a market that is otherwise maturing, Christmas has come early for vendors looking to capitalize with large-screened flagship alternatives like the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel," she added.
The IDC report also shows that Samsung has witnessed a dip in shipment growth. If we dial back the time exactly by a year, Samsung had 13.5 percent more shipments compared to Q3 2016. Second placed arch-rival Apple also witnessed a 5.3 percent decline in shipments.
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Both the top players are getting fierce competition from emerging Chinese firms -- Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, who are chronologically placed in third, fourth and fifth position in the leader board. They have managed to clock double-and-triple digit growth (in percent) in shipments.
It remains to be seen how Samsung and Apple will sign off at the end of the year. For that, we have to wait until January 2017.
Stay tuned for more updates.
Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, Market Share and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q3 2016 Preliminary Data (Units in Millions):
| Smartphone company | 3Q, 2016 Shipment Volume | 3Q, 2016 Market share | 3Q, 2015 Shipment Volume | 3Q, 2015 Market share | Year-on-Year Change |
| Samsung | 72.5 | 20.0 % | 83.8 | 23.3% | -13.5% |
| Apple | 45.5 | 12.5% | 48.0 | 13.4% | -5.3% |
| Huawei | 33.6 | 9.3% | 27.3 | 7.6% | 23.0% |
| Oppo | 25.6 | 7.0% | 11.4 | 3.2% | 121.6% |
| Vivo | 21.2 | 5.8% | 10.5 | 2.9% | 102.5% |
| Others | 164.8 | 45.4% | 178.2 | 49.6% | -7.5% |
| Total | 362.9 | 100.0 | 359.3 | 100.0% | 1.0% |
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