iPhone sales continued their double-digit growth, while worldwide smartphone sales recorded the slowest growth rate since 2013, reports Gartner after analyzing data from the second calendar quarter of 2015.
As the market research firm points out, Apple recorded strong iPhone replacements in both emerging and mature markets, and particularly in China, where iPhone sales grew by 68% to 11.9 million units. Overall iPhone sales jumped by 36% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
Apple’s growth had a negative impact on its competitors’ sales and profit margins, says Gartner. As a result, many vendors had to switch focus from the premium segment to the midrange and low-end smartphone segments to remain competitive.
The global leader in terms of smartphone sales remains Samsung, with 72 million units shipped and a 21.9% share of the market, followed by Apple with 48 million units, which reserved the company 14.6% of the global smartphone market. In third spot we find Huawei with 25.8 million units shipped and a 7.8% share, followed by Lenovo and Xiaomi with roughly the same 16 million unit sales.
Android remains the most popular operating system, with 271 million units shipped during the past quarter accounting for 82.2% of the market. Apple came out second, followed by Windows with a 2.5% share of the market, down 0.3% compared to Q2 2014.
Smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2015 totaled 330 million units, an increase of 13.5% compared to the same period a year ago says Gartner.
