Smartphone shipment flat in Q2

According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 343.3 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter of 2016.

This was relatively flat, up 0.3 per cent from 2Q15 when vendors shipped 342.4 million units. The market did show greater sequential growth as shipments were up 3.1 per cent from 333.1 million in the first quarter of 2016.

Program Vice President with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers, Ryan Reith, said, “we continue to see a number of changing dynamics in the smartphone market and many vendors are readjusting their business strategy and portfolio to take advantage of these market movements.

“Mature markets continue the transition away from pure subsidy and over to EIP programs and Apple is beginning to put more emphasis on ‘Device as a Service’ to try to prevent lengthening replacement cycles. This is a growing theme we have heard more about from PCs to smartphones. Additionally, the overall China market slowdown continues to ramp up competition in other high growth markets like India, Indonesia, and Middle East. Interestingly enough, our early findings show low-end Chinese OEMs that predominantly built their business domestically in China are having success penetrating non-China markets, despite low-end competition from local brands already in place.”

According to IDC, the top five list remained intact from last quarter with Samsung remaining in front while also gaining share thanks to strong Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge performance. For Apple, the second quarter is seasonally it’s lowest of the year, as consumers hold off on purchases in anticipation of the next big launch in the third quarter. Apple shipped 40.4 million units in 2Q16, which marked the lowest quarterly volume in seven quarters, despite the mid-cycle introduction of the iPhone SE. In the face of declining shipments, Apple did witness strong sales in both established and emerging markets thanks to the launch of the more affordable iPhone SE.