In a note to clients — as noted by AppleInsider — UBS analyst Steven Milunovich says that the premium smartphone market returned to growth in the December quarter at up 8% with Apple outgrowing the market with a 19% growth.
In Europe, the premium market grew 4%, with Apple climbing 16%. Apple’s market share in Japan is up to 70%. Apple’s numbers in China numbers remain impacted by Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei claiming a combined 45% of the market. While the market grew 9%, the iPhone declined 19%. However, Apple remains the largest vendor in China, with 47% of the market.
For the remainder of the 2017 calendar year, Milunovitch predicts a “bulge” of iPhone 6 owners to upgrade after the expected September “iPhone 7s” and/or “iPhone 8” releases.
