Coming off a stronger-than-expected first quarter, global smartphone shipments ticked downward in the second quarter as shipments among vendors outside the top five dropped off 16 percent, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
In a new report, IDC notes overall shipments dipped 1.3 percent year over year and 0.8 percent sequentially to 341.6 million. That change came despite gains among all five of the top smartphone vendors, including Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi.
The latter three Chinese vendors continued to make double-digit gains, with Xiaomi growing shipments a whopping 59 percent during the quarter. Oppo and Huawei also posted strong increases, with growth of 22.4 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively. Shipment totals for Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi came in at 38.5 million, 27.8 million, and 21.2 million units, respectively.
Traditional leaders Samsung and Apple walked away from the second quarter with nearly identical gains of around 1.5 percent. However, Samsung’s shipment figure of 79.8 million units remained nearly double that of Apple’s 41 million units.
Outside those companies, though, smartphone shipments plunged. Vendors in the “other” category shipped just 133.4 million units in the second quarter, down from 158.8 million the year prior.
“In my opinion, the biggest change in the second quarter is the size of the contraction among the ‘Others’ outside of the top five OEMs,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “It’s no secret that the smartphone market is a very challenging segment for companies to maintain or grow share, especially as already low average selling prices declined by another 4.3 percent in 2016. The smaller, more localized vendors will continue to struggle, especially as the leading volume drivers build out their portfolio into new markets and price segments.”
Shipment volumes are expected to rise over the next two quarters, though, as Samsung and Apple both release new flagship devices toward the end of the year. Samsung is planning an August launch event (presumably for its Galaxy Note 8 device), and expectations are that Apple’s traditional September iPhone debut will follow. IDC said these devices will help drive year-over-year growth in the remaining two quarters of this year.
