Latest smartphone stats: Chinese brands gain, Apple and Samsung fall

Market leaders Samsung and Apple have fallen slightly in IDC's latest worldwide smartphone shipment figures, while a trio of Chinese brands – Huawei, Oppo and Vivo – have gained.

The latest figures for New Zealand also show Huawei making strong gains. Late 2016, it benefited from Samsung's firephone woes and Apple holding off until later this year for its next major redesign of the iPhone.

Vivo is a peripheral presence in New Zealand. Oppo has just launched locally, initially exclusive to 2degrees and JB Hi-Fi.

IDC says phone companies shipped a total of 347.4 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2017 as the market grew 4.3%, ahead of its previous forecast of 3.6% growth.

Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have all outpaced market growth for over a year now. And as these companies gain share in new territories, the potential to continue this trend is high.

None are as trendy as Apple or Huawei but all offer a lot of features at a keen price. And although many of their (invariably Android) models are aimed at budget buyers, Huawei and Oppo are also now producing handsets designed to compete head to head with Apple and Samsung's top-shelf product.

"Although we have seen an abundance of premium redesigned flagships that just entered the market, moving forward we still expect most of the growth to come from more affordable models in a variety of markets," Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, said. "Despite all the popularity and media hype over premium devices, we continue to witness a shift in many companies' portfolios geared toward affordable devices with premium-type styling compared to flagship models. Companies have started to implement a single premium design language that ultimately blurs the lines between the high-end and the low-end, allowing the average consumer to jump on the brand without a hefty upfront investment."

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 RAW DATA: IDC's Smartphone Company Highlights 

Samsung regained control as the leader in the worldwide smartphone market despite a flat first quarter (zero year-over-year growth). Substantial discounts on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge helped move last year's flagships as they make way for the new S8 and S8+. Outside the high end, the product mix continues to shift toward more affordable models. The J-Series and A-Series drove significant volumes in both emerging and developed markets thanks to flagship-like design at more affordable price points. A refreshed A7, A5, and A3 earlier this quarter, along with a recently updated J-Series, and new flagship S8/S8+ should give Samsung a well-balanced portfolio across all regions in the second quarter. An early positive response to the recently launched S8 and S8+ looks promising as it may have finally put Samsung's Note 7 fiasco to bed.

Apple remained essentially flat with shipments reaching 51.6 million units in the first quarter, up slightly from the 51.2 million shipped last year. The strong holiday fourth quarter carried into the month of January as the larger iPhone 7 Plus returned to stock across most channels in numerous regions. Apple introduced a refreshed iPhone SE with more storage capacity (32GB and 128GB) that puts the mid-tier device in line with the rest of the iPhone portfolio. The Cupertino-based giant also refreshed its flagship smartphone by bringing (Product)Red over to the iPhone, which paints both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in a new red finish. Finally, rumours of a special edition 10th anniversary iPhone continue to grow as a pending new design, screen size, and performance upgrades all look to be in the works for the fall.

Huawei sustained its dominance in China growing nearly 22% as shipments climbed from 28.1 million units last year, to 34.2 million units in the first quarter of 2017. Huawei once again demonstrated its stable position in the premium market with the P and Mate Series, and a strong presence in the affordable sector with its Y Series and Honor brand. Although Huawei announced earlier in the month the Mate 9 has sold over five million units since it launched in November, in the US the device, as well as the brand, has failed to grab consumers' attention. This US attention is something they will need if they aspire to displace the two market leaders. The launch of the new P10 flagship and the new P10 Plus at the very end of the quarter presents consumers a valid third option (outside Apple and Samsung) for the coming quarter thanks to both premium design and similar performance.

OPPO's mid-range, camera-focused R9s was a crucial model in China that helped it to see strong shipments in the market. OPPO's growth has in fact been stronger outside China, with nearly a quarter of shipments from international markets. In the rest of Asia and to a smaller degree in the Middle East and Africa regions, its strong retail presence has helped it to grow further in its business. It has been aggressive in both above-the-line and below-the-line activities in India, and stepped up with its after-sales service efforts in several Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia by increasing its number of service centres.

Vivo also relied on a key model with the x9 in China that continued to generate a lot of hype around its selfie camera features, targeted at the under-30 crowd. It stepped up with its marketing efforts in India and was a sponsor of the Indian Premier League 2017, helping to increase Vivo's brand presence in the market, while also increasing the number of exclusive stores in India. In Southeast Asia, it continues to have its own promoters aggressively pushing its phones in the market. In Indonesia, it has also promised consumers single-day phone repairs as a differentiator to the competition.