Kantar May 2017: Samsung back on top in the USA

For smartphone market share watchers, here are analyst company Kantar’s latest numbers for the smartphone market share for the 3 months ending May 2017.

The numbers reveal that in the three months ending May 2017, iOS performance proved strong in the USA, Australia, and Japan, with Android making gains in GB, Germany, and France. In urban China, there was little year-on-year movement, with Android capturing 80.5% of smartphone sales, up one percentage point from a year earlier.

“Samsung regained the top sales spot in the USA in the three-month period ending in May 2017, with market share rising to 36.2% from 32.9% during the previous period,” said Dominic Sunnebo, Global Business Unit Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “However, this represents a fall of 1.1 percentage points over the past year, with Apple holding a 34.0% share, up 4.7 percentage points from a year earlier. The Galaxy S8 launch helped Samsung regain the top position in the USA, but the bounce from the flagship launch was less than would be expected from a full product redesign.”

Apple and Samsung continue to dominate smartphone sales, each with five models on the top 10 best-selling list. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus occupy the top two spots, with the Samsung Galaxy S7 in third place, just ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S8 in the number four spot. The launch of the LG G6 had minimal impact, with the G6 now in thirteenth position with a 1.3% share in the US.

In urban China, iOS share remained almost flat at 19.2%, down 0.4 percentage points year-over-year, though an improvement from 16.2% in the three months ending April 2017. Huawei remained the market leader as its share grew 2.9 percentage points to 28.3%. Xiaomi performance edged up after a challenging few months, with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X coming in as the fourth-best-selling device in the three months ending May 2017.

“Xiaomi managed to regain some momentum with the Note 4X launch, but the brand is making slow progress with its higher-tier devices,” said Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. “Xiaomi’s average selling price in the three months ending in May was 41% below the market ASP at ¥1523, and 33% below Huawei’s Honor Brand.”

In EU5, Android accounted for 79.5% of smartphone sales in the three months ending May 2017, increasing 2.8 percentage points from a year earlier, driven by strong performance in GB, Germany, and France. iOS share edged up across Germany, France, and Spain, though declines in Great Britain and Italy meant overall iOS EU5 share remained steady, up 0.2% year-on-year to 18.4%. Europe’s big five markets include Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

“Samsung performed well in France in the three months ending in May 2017,” Sunnebo noted. “The low- and mid-tier Galaxy J series and A series models enabled Samsung to compete more effectively with home-grown upstart Wiko and global challenger Huawei. However, the largest contributor to Android’s EU5 growth came from Huawei, which posted strong sales in all EU5 markets except Spain. Huawei continued to produce good sales volumes, but its flagship P10 struggled to make an impact in sales rankings, with share gains attributed to the older, more value-orientated P8 and P9 Lite models.

See last month’s numbers here.