China’s leading smartphone vendors continued to gain on Apple in terms of shipments during Q3, as Samsung extended its lead at the top of the worldwide table.

Two separate studies on the smartphone market from IDC and Strategy Analytics, showed global shipments for the three months to end-September reached more than 370 million.

The top five vendors’ ranking by shipments were unchanged from Q2 figures.

Strategy Analytics said global shipments reached 393 million during the quarter, while IDC estimated 373 million. Strategy Analytics’ figures record a 5 per cent year-on-year rise in volume, whereas IDC placed the rise at a more modest 2.7 per cent.

Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics, expects the industry to maintain its steady growth trajectory: “The global smartphone market has settled into a steady rhythm of single-digit growth this year, driven by first-time buyers across emerging markets of Asia and upgrades to flagship Android models in developed regions such as Western Europe,” she added.

Usual suspects
Both studies showed similar trends on the performance of principal smartphone brands.

Samsung increased its lead as the world’s largest vendor by shipments by more than 1 per cent year-on-year across both studies. IDC said Samsung increased its share 1.4 per cent year-on-year to boast a 21.5 per cent market share, compared with 21.2 per cent in the Strategy Analytics study.

Both data sources showed Apple’s market share broadly flat compared to Q3 2016 in the region of 12 per cent to 12.5 per cent, while Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi all recorded increased share and continued to home in on Apple.

Huawei – positioned three – showed a market share increase of 1 per cent to between 10 per cent and 10.5 per cent.

Larger gains were reported for Oppo and Xiaomi, albeit from a lower starting point.

Both studies placed Xiaomi’s share at almost double its standing in Q3 2016, with estimates of 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent in the recent period. Shipment volumes for the company increased 103 per cent compared to the same period in 2016, according to IDC.

Ryan Reith, programme VP with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers said outside of the top 5, other players including Google were struggling to make an impact.

“What is clear is that the ‘others’ outside of the top 5 leading vendors continue to struggle and the industry leaders are quickly forming two camps,” he said: “First, those able to drive significant volumes at the high end, which right now is basically Samsung, Apple, and Huawei, despite high-profile launches from Google, Essential, LG, and others.

“Second, a few other Chinese OEMs that are making tremendous headway outside of the China domestic market.”