According to TrendForce analysis, Samsung currently holds the top spot worldwide in terms of market share with around 21.1 percent market. However, the report suggests that Apple will dethrone Samsung from the top spot in the last quarter of this year (Q4 2017).
As per the report, Samsung’s market share will decline from 21.1 percent to 18.2 percent while Apple’s market share will grow from 11.5 percent to 19.1 percent. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth spot will be taken by Chinese manufacturers Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi and Vivo respectively.
While Huawei is estimated to capture 10.6 percent of the market share, OPPO, Xiaomi and Vivo are estimated to follow with 7.2%, 6.6% and 5.5% of market share. Rest of the companies will cover the remaining 32.8 percent market share.
Huawei’s annual total for 2017 is estimated around 150 million units. The Chinese manufacturer’s smartphone strategy for this year is to focus on selling its high-end, high-margin models and reduce the number of its low-price, entry-level models in the lineup.
In terms of smartphone production, Samsung manufacturer 81 million units in the third quarter. However, in the fourth quarter, the company is expected to scale down production of its high-end smartphones. On the other hand, Apple, which is struggling in terms of production capacity for the iPhone X, is expected to ramp up productions to reach 81 million units in the last quarter of the year, out of which 33 percent units will be iPhone X.
The fourth quarter has usually been the strongest for Apple, given that the US-based company launches new devices in the fall. Samsung‘s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus were released back in April, so sales momentum is likely beginning to decline.
Meanwhile, market research firm Canalys estimates that the iPhone 8 Plus has outpaced the iPhone 8 last quarter with shipments of 6.3 million units and 5.4 million units respectively. As per the report, the iPhone 8 Plus is the first Plus-sized iPhone to out-ship its smaller sibling in a single quarter.
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With iPhone X sales going stronger, and the demand for the device is expected to be significant during holiday period. This could help Apple to easily beat its all-time record for revenue in a single quarter of $78.4 billion which was achieved in the fourth quarter of 2016.
(Source)
