The EMEA [Europe, the Middle East, and Africa] mobile phone market saw smartphone volumes fall for a second year in 2017, but Apple gained ground, according to a new report from IDC.
Smartphone volumes were down modestly at 361 million, against 374 million in 2016, according to the research group. Feature phone shipments rose by 8.7% to 206 million. Smartphone market value was marginally lower in dollar terms at $109 billion, though the drop was more pronounced in euros, at €96 billion, against €101 billion in 2016.
However, Apple managed to stand out in a difficult market, commented Susana Santos, senior research analyst at IDC Western Europe. The premium iPhone X was only launched in November but added some $4.3 billion to Apple sales in the European market across the year, over a sixth of the annual Apple total.
Sales in the more affluent Western European countries were overall flat, though Germany stood out, but overall in EMEA the shipment value of Apple iPhones rose to 37.5% of total smartphone value, on sales of 57 million iPhones across the year, up from 34.2% of the market value and 54.8 million iPhones in 2016.
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