Gartner said on Wednesday (February 15, 2017) that global smartphone sales rose 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
According to Gartner’s press release, worldwide smartphone sales totaled 432 million units in Q4 2016, up 7 percent to 403 million units recorded in Q4 2015. In 2016 overall, smartphone sales reached nearly 1.5 billion units, up 5 percent from the previous year.
Gartner also revealed that Apple leapfrogged its rival Samsung to gain the top position in the global smartphone vendor rankings in Q4 2016. It took eight quarters for Apple to regain the lead against Samsung, but the two smartphone giants are only separated by 256,000 units.
“Samsung’s smartphone sales started to drop in in the third quarter of 2016, and the decision to discontinue the Galaxy Note 7 slowed down sales of its smartphone portfolio in the fourth quarter,” said Gartner’s research director Anshul Gupta.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies Huawei, Oppo, and BBK grabbed the third, fourth, and fifth spots respectively in the fourth quarter global smartphone rankings.
(Photo Source: apple.com/ samsung.com)
