Australia’s mobile phone market grew 18.4 per cent year-on-year in Q2, with a surge in Android product launches pushing shipments to 2.16 million units, according to IDC.

Smartphones accounted for 95 per cent of total handset shipments in the quarter. Android returned to being the most popular smartphone OS with a 63 per cent market share compared with iOS’s 37 per cent. iOS overtook Android as the most popular OS in the last quarter of 2016, with a 54 per cent share.

Windows Phone declined and held less than 1 per cent share at end Q2, as a lack of new devices and apps on the platform continue to hinder any opportunity in both the consumer as well as commercial segment.

Even with a slowdown of iPhone 7 shipments, Apple maintained its position as the leading vendor during the period.

Bilal Javed, senior market analyst at IDC Australia, noted it will be interesting to see if Apple can regain market share after the much-awaited iPhone 8 launch, and return to having more than half of Australian smartphone shipments.

Market gains
Samsung strengthened its number two position, increasing its market share to 34 per cent from 23 per cent the previous quarter. IDC said the Galaxy S8 and S8+ accounted for more than 75 per cent of Samsung’s smartphone shipments in Q2.

Alcatel regained some ground to hold 5 per cent of the market through its strategy of providing exclusive devices for telecoms operators in the prepaid space. The vendor also gained traction from devices with attractive prices in the open channel.

Oppo continued to grow in Australia, equalling Alcatel’s 5 per cent share. The launch of two new devices, A57 and A77, followed on from the success of the F1s and fuelled solid growth, IDC said.

Huawei’s market share stood at 4 per cent, on the back of the flagship P10 series launch and significant growth in the prepaid segment through its Y series devices available from telecom operators.