TrendForce: Samsung retakes global smartphone lead, Apple down to second

Samsung retook the lead in global smartphone sales in Q1 of 2017 by securing 26.1% of all sales, new report from TrendForce says. Apple returned to its usual second position with 16.9%

The study quotes strong performance of the Galaxy J series phones as the reason for the shift. Back in Q4 of 2016 Apple was on top with 20.3%, capitalizing on the launch of its iPhone 7 pair.

Along with Samsung Huawei was the only other brand to increase its share compared to the previous quarter, solidifying its grasp on the third place. Oppo, vivo and LG follow, but all lost ground compared to Q4 of 2016.

TrendForce also took a closer look at the Chinese manufacturers, who now combine to produce just over 46% of all smartphones. Xiaomi ranks fourth there, some way off the top three mentioned above, but gaining 2.1 percentage points in a single quarter. ZTE comes next and is also on the rise.

We are also in for a very interesting second quarter as newly launched flagships such as the Huawei P10, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the LG G6 are bound to cause some movement in the shares. Xiaomi's Mi 6 is coming out next week too, so there will be no shortage of exciting phones on the market.