Gartner: Apple to have record Q4 off the back of surging iPhone sales in Q3
According to Gartner Inc.’s quarterly handset tracker, sales of Apple Inc.’s iPhones increased 26 percent in the third quarter of 2014, with nearly 38.2 million iPhones sold. Gartner expects Apple to have record fourth-quarter sales, with demand for its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus outstripping supply.
Meanwhile Samsung Co. Ltd.’s market share slipped in the third quarter and Chinese players gained traction in emerging markets.
Smartphones accounted for 66 percent of all mobile phones sales, at 301 million smartphones out of a total of nearly 456 million mobile phones sold, for the third quarter –a 20 percent increase from 2013.
Samsung lost market share thanks to a decline in sales of both its feature phones and smartphones. The biggest contributor being a 10.8 percent decrease in feature phones sales year-over-year. Demand for Samsung’s smartphones dropped most in Western Europe and Asia, with a 28.6 percent decline in sales in China, Samsung’s biggest market.
“Sales of feature phones declined 25 percent in the third quarter of 2014 because the difference in price between feature phones and low-cost Android smartphones is reducing further,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.
Three of the top five smartphone vendors for the third quarter were Chinese. Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo grew their combined market share by 4.1 percentage points.
“With the ability to undercut cost and offer top specs Chinese brands are well positioned to expand in the premium phone market too and address the needs of upgrade users that aspire to premium phones, but cannot afford Apple or Samsung high-end products,” said Ms. Cozza.
“The smartphone market is more than ever in flux as more players step up their game in this space,” added Ms. Cozza.
Looking ahead at the fourth quarter Gartner expects record sales from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but Annette Zimmerman, research director at Gartner, warns, “We should not underestimate the Chinese vendors and local brands. Chinese players will continue to look at expanding in overseas emerging markets. In Europe prepaid country markets and attractive lost-cost LTE phones will also offer key opportunities for these brands.”
Gartner anticipates sales of smartphones to reach 1.2 billion units in 2014.
photo credit: Janitors via photopin cc
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