Apple beats Samsung in Q4 smartphone shipment

SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- Apple Inc. emerged as the leader in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter of last year, beating its South Korean archrival Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Wednesday.

The U.S. giant sold about 78.3 million smartphones during the October-December period, up 18 percent from a year earlier, the data compiled by industry tracker Strategy Analytics showed. The figure translates into a market share of 17.8 percent.

The South Korean tech giant, meanwhile, shipped 77.5 million units during the cited period, down 5 percent from a year earlier, taking up 17.17 percent of the market.

Samsung's fourth-quarter market share is the lowest in six years, Strategy Analytics said.

Earlier in the day, Apple announced it sold a record 78.29 million iPhones during the October-December period, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

Strategy Analytics said Apple overtook Samsung as the South Korean tech firm has been grappling with the recent recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 over faulty batteries.

For all of 2016, however, Samsung maintained its global leader position with 22.2 percent market share by shipping 309.4 million smartphones, followed by runner-up Apple with 16.1 percent, the data showed.

Three Chinese vendors -- Huawei Technologies Co., Oppo and Vivo -- followed Apple and Samsung in the top five, with Huawei leading the pack with a 10 percent market share during the same period, the data showed. It marks the first time that Huawei has posted double digit market share.

Strategy Analytics also said the annual global smartphone shipments hit an all-time high of 1.49 billion units in 2016.

khj@yna.co.kr
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