Samsung remains world’s largest phone maker despite global smartphone shipments decrease

International Data Corporation (IDC) says a decrease in smartphone shipments in China led to the decline of the worldwide smartphone market by 2.9%.

According to a recently published report by IDC, the global smartphone market is being as complex as ever. The first quarter of 2018 hasn’t exactly brought good news as shipments have declined compared with the same quarter in 2017. But within that, some brands like Huawei and Xiaomi have gained too.

Samsung keeps sitting at the top with 78.2 million units shipped, which gives it a market share of 23.4%, though that is a decline of 2.4% compared with the same quarter of 2017. Apple is in second place, with 52.2 million units shipped and a market share of 15.6%, which is an increase of 2.8% compared with Q1 2017.

Huawei has taken the third spot with 39.3 million phone shipments, giving it a market share of 11.8%, an increase of 13.8% over Q1 2017. The biggest gainer is Xiaomi, which saw the company’s shipments jump from 14.8 million units in Q1 2017 to 28 million units in Q1 2018—this gives it a market share of 8.4% but also an increase of 87.8%. Even though Oppo’s year-on-year numbers declined 7.5%, with 23.9 million units shipped and a market share of 7.1%, the company has held on to the fifth spot in the rankings.

If consumers are genuinely unwilling to shell out more money for a new flagship phone that only brings incremental improvements to what they already own, maybe smartphone makers will have to reconsider their next line of flagship phones. Huawei has perhaps made the first move perhaps, with the triple camera P20 Pro smartphone.