Top five smartphones increase global market share; Xiaomi grows 80% faster in Q2 FY18

Key Highlights

• Xiaomi market share increased to 7% in Q2FY18.
• The company sold over 26,000 units.
• Global sales of smartphones to end users amounted to 38.3 crore during the quarter.

Chinese smartphone brand, Xiaomi outperformed sales growth of the top five smartphones in the second quarter ended September 30.

As the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth, apart from Apple, Xiaomi was labelled the ‘best performer,’ a report by Gartner said on Thursday.

“All of the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth apart from Apple, which achieved a 5.7 percent increase,” the report said.

“Xiaomi exhibited best performance of the quarter,” the report added.

Global sales of smartphones to end users amounted to 38.3 crore units in Q2FY18.

This was a 3% increase over the same period in 2016, as per Gartner estimates.

“Xiaomi achieved the strongest growth, exhibiting an 80% increase in the third quarter of 2017,” the report said.

Although Samsung had recorded highest sales of over 85,000 units, its market share from the year ago period changed from 19.3% to 22.3% in Q2 FY18.

Apple and Huawei ranked next after Samsung with over 45,000 and 36,000 units.

"The arrival of Apple's new flagship iPhones at the end of the third quarter of 2017 has delayed smartphone purchases into the fourth quarter of 2017," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.

Xiaomi was the only one that increased its market share from 4% in Q2FY17 to 7% in Q2FY18.

Its worldwide smartphone sales reached 26,853.2 during the quarter.

Weaker sales were witnessed in China. Greater China exhibited a decline of 11% in the third quarter due to consolidation around local and lesser-known brands, the report added.

However the report added Chinese manufacturers Oppo, Huawei, Vivo and Xiaomi continued to drive sales across emerging markets, led by their midprice and budget smartphones with a focus on 4G connectivity and better cameras.

"Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017. Emerging Asia/Pacific (15 percent increase) and North America (11.2 percent increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter,” said Gupta.

Also read: Demand for premium smartphones converge in Q2 FY18; who will emerge victorious?