iPhone continues to steal global smartphone market share from Samsung

iPhone sales grew 36% year-on-year, while Samsung’s sales fell 5.3% in the same period, according to new data from the Gartner research group. Apple’s market share climbed from 12.2% in the second quarter of 2014 to 14.6% in the same quarter this year.

Gartner says Apple’s double-digit growth in the high-end segment continued to negatively impact its rivals’ premium phone sales and profit margins. Despite the launch of new S6 models, Samsung’s premium phones continued to be challenged by Apple’s large-screen iPhones, adds the research group.

Samsung lost 4.3 percentage points in market share and declined 5.3 percent in unit sales in the second quarter of 2015. Huawei recorded the highest sales growth rate of 46.3 percent, thanks to strong overseas sales and 4G smartphone sales in China. iPhone sales increased 36 percent, which helped Apple gain 2.4 percentage points in market share. 

Apple recorded strong iPhone replacements in both emerging and mature markets — and particularly in China. Total iPhone sales in China grew 68 percent to 11.9 million units. 

In the smartphone operating system market, Android’s global share was affected by the weak performance of China in the second quarter of 2015 and the strong performance in China of Apple. iOS has taken share from Android for the last three quarters.