Motorola nearly doubled smartphone shipments year-on-year in the US in Q3 to capture 5 per cent of the market, Strategy Analytics data shows.

Though overall shipments in the US dipped 2 per cent to 39.5 million units, Motorola increased its shipment total to 2.1 million from 1.1 million in 2016. That growth was reflected by a year-on-year boost in Motorola’s market share, which jumped from 2.7 per cent to 5.2 per cent.

Strategy Analytics director Ken Hyers attributed Motorola’s success to expanded distribution among tier one US operators and uptake of new device models, including the Moto Z2 Play that debuted in June.

Motorola’s resurgence carried it into fifth place behind top four vendors Apple, Samsung, LG and ZTE. Apple was the only one of the bunch to record a downturn in shipments during the third quarter, as customers held off on upgrades until the release of the iPhone X last week (3 November).

While shipments at Apple slipped by one million units to 12 million, number four player ZTE increased its own shipment total by the same amount to 4.6 million. LG and Samsung also made minor gains to hit 6.8 million and 9.9 million shipments in Q3, respectively.

Hyers noted ZTE benefited from strong device demand in the prepaid segment, but fellow Strategy Analytics director Linda Sui stated an expanded store presence at operators like AT&T and Sprint helped LG “stay one step ahead”.