Analysts: Apple climbs back to top in US smartphone market

Apple has retaken the top position in the US smartphone marketplace after Samsung occupied that spot for the first and second quarters of this year. Estimates from Strategy Analytics show that the overall US smartphone market declined 1.5% compared to the same period last year – from 40.1 to 39.5 million units shipped.

Apple shipped an estimated 12 million iPhones in Q3 which amounts to 30% of the market. This is a dip from 13 million and 32% for Q3 last year as the iPhone 8 duo got a mixed reception.

The two iPhones caught only the tail end of the quarter, going on sale in September. Also, many potential buyers held off for the iPhone X, which missed the quarter entirely.

US smartphone shipments (in millions of units)	Q3 2016	Q3 2017
Apple	13.0	12.0
Samsung	9.7	9.9
LG	6.5	6.8
ZTE	3.6	4.6
Motorola	1.1	2.1
Others	6.1	4.2
TOTAL	40.1	39.5

Samsung shipped 9.9 million units, an increase from 9.7 million a year ago. The Galaxy S8 was

strong in the high-end market while the Galaxy A5 bolstered the mid-range. The Galaxy Note8 (which also launched in September) is not mentioned in the report.

LG came in third place with a 17% share and 6.8 million units shipped, a small increase over 2016. SA credits this to increased retail presence at carriers like AT&T and Sprint.

US smartphone shipments (market share)	Q3 2016	Q3 2017
Apple	32.5%	30.4%
Samsung	24.2%	25.1%
LG	16.2%	17.2%
ZTE	9.1%	11.6%
Motorola	2.7%	5.2%
Others	15.3%	10.5%
YoY change	+5.9%	-1.5%

ZTE saw an increase in shipments of 1 million units, in large part due to prepaid deals from carriers like Tracfone. The company managed to steal market share from rivals TCL (and its Alcatel brand) and Blu.

Motorola is back in fifth position, a place it has not occupied since 2015. With strong sales of mid-range devices like the Moto Z2 Play, the Lenovo-owned company nearly doubled its shipments and market share.

Source

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