It has been reported that Apple's very slim market share lead over Huawei and/or OPPO/Vivo may potentially slip in 2017 from number two globally, to number three or even four, according to a claim coming from a research company. Asian researcher Trendforce constantly tracks the orders for, and supply of, components used in smartphones and tablets such as memory, screens, SoC, screens, &more.
Difference In Reports
According to IT Wire, Trendforce reports may differ from IDC that uses sell-in, GfK that uses sell-out, and Apteligent that uses phone activations but in the end, all of these tend to paint towards an accurate picture. The exception is Kantar World Panel Comtech, which uses consumer panels to measure sentiment and buying habits; its predictions are different from all others.
Huawei and OPPO Set To Make Huge Leap
The bottom line of all this is that 1.3681 billion smartphones were shipped during the calendar year 2016 and Trendforce has estimated that this will be growing by about 5.5% to 1.4438 billion this year. Samsung's position, despite everything that's happened to it, will remain at 22.6%, Apple will also stay second with 15.7%, while Huawei, on the other hand, will increase slightly to 11.7%, and OPPO/Vivo is going to skyrocket and hit 15.3% combined.
Android Continues To Grow, iOS To Stay Put
This means that despite the innovation frenzy being expected in 2017 to counter the effects of an iPhone 10th anniversary model, brand loyalty, value, and ecosystem status quo will remain the same. Those under the iOS system will stay put, while Android will continue to grow slowly and surely.
Apple Remains Calm And Collective
According to Yahoo! Finance, despite the projected slip, Apple is playing it safe. Its main smartphone markets, Europe/UK, Japan, U.S., China, and ANZ are over-saturated, where replacement times are now longer thanks to telco subsidies that was generally being phased out revealing the true handset price, and people buying a new model when they need to.
Apple's ecosystem is pretty much well-established with the little defection to/from Android, so it focuses on making more average revenue per unit rather than worry about its current standings. Huawei and OPPO, on the other hand, will enjoy their sudden increase.
