Global smartphone production volume jumped nearly nine percent sequentially to 315 million units in the second quarter, according to a new report from TrendForce.
The bump marked a year-over-year increase of 3.2 percent, the report said.
Production was driven by a combination of increased demand in North America and emerging markets as well as strong domestic demand in China, TrendForce said.
For the second quarter in a row, TrendForce smartphone analyst Avril Wu said the combined volume of Chinese smartphone brands surpassed that of top international vendors Samsung and Apple. Chinese vendors produced some 139 million units for an increase of 13.8 percent over the previous quarter, Wu said.
Apple, however, did boost production volume in the quarter, producing around 48 million units for an increase of 13 percent sequentially. Though not blockbuster, steady sales of the iPhone SE helped boost Apple’s numbers for the quarter, TrendForce said. The company produced around 9 million iPhone SE devices in the second quarter, the report said.
“Sales figures of iPhone SE were not particularly exceptional because Chinese smartphone brands put up strong competition in the mid-range device market by lowering their prices,” Wu said. “Nonetheless, iPhone SE has helped prop up sales for Apple before the market launch of the next iPhone.”
According to the report, Samsung production volumes dipped five percent in the second quarter to around 77 million units, though sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge remained “brisk.” Production volumes from the third largest global vendor, Huawei, were up 7.4 percent for the quarter to 29 million units.
In terms of overall market share, Samsung slip 3.5 percentage points sequentially but remained dominant at 24.5 percent. Apple gained a bit of ground in second place, rising from 14.5 percent in the first quarter to 15.1 percent market share in the second quarter, while Huawei remained flat in third place at 9.2 percent. China’s OPPO and LG rounded out the top five global vendors with 5.6 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, but Vivo trailed in a close sixth with 4.7 percent market share.
