Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S6 line were the second-best selling smartphones after Apple’s iPhone portfolio, according to Counterpoint Research, with signs that the device is proving a better proposition than the vendor’s previous-generation range-topper.

Based on its analysis of April sales – with the new Galaxy devices becoming available on 10 April – Galaxy S6 exceeded sales of the Galaxy S5 in the same period last year. Some 6 million units were sold, representing 60 per cent of units shipped from factories (Counterpoint noted that an inventory build-up is “not unusual for a new product in its first stages”).

It also noted that Galaxy S6 was available initially in 20 countries, compared with 125 when the Galaxy S5 launched last year.

“Considering that fewer countries were in the initial product release, it has had a slower rollout and lower marketing budget than the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy S6 can be considered to be performing better,” Tom Kang, research director at Counterpoint, said.

Unsurprisingly the standard device sold slightly more than the curved-screen S6 Edge, although the latter showed much higher initial interest.

Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint, noted: “We believe the Galaxy S6 Edge could have sold more if there weren’t supply issues, but it is on track to become more popular than the standard version as Samsung’s marketing engine kicks-in at full-speed.”

More concerning is the fact that there is some cannibalisation with Samsung’s other product lines. While a drop in sales for Galaxy S5 was anticipated, “Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy A-series were also affected as sales dropped between 30 per cent and 40 per cent,” the research firm said.

This means that Samsung is not growing its market share despite the success of Galaxy S6, although it is shifting more of it latest premium device.