According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, phone companies shipped a total of 347.4 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2017.
“In light of what might seem like a slowing market, consumers continue to show demand for smartphones and OEM flagship hype seems strong as ever,” the report summary notes.
Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4.3% in 1Q17, which was slightly higher than IDC’s previous forecast of 3.6% growth.
“The first quarter smartphone results further prove that the smartphone industry is not dead and that growth still exists,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers. “There is no question that 2016 was a pivotal year for the industry as growth dipped to low single digits for the first time. However, we believe the industry will show some rebound in 2017, and the strong first quarter results certainly support this argument. In addition to what shipped in 1Q17, big flagship announcements from Huawei with the P10 devices and Samsung with the Galaxy S8 devices show that innovation is still possible. And despite any formal announcements from Apple it is safe to say the industry is highly anticipating what comes from this year’s iPhone announcements.”
When breaking down precisely where the first quarter growth came from, IDC continues to see the largest catalysts being a handful of Chinese OEMs.
As for the clear leaders? They include Huawei, OPPO, and vivo.
