A smartphone was shipped for 1 of every 5 people alive in 2015
Manufacturers shipped nearly 1.5 billion smartphones to the world's 7.4 billion inhabitants in 2015 as consumers opted to replace older devices with newer LTE-equipped models or those with larger displays.
The massive, increasingly crowded smartphone sector now counts some 850 competitive brands, according to new data from Counterpoint Research. The market remains a mile wide and inch deep, however -- the 20 largest companies account for nearly 85 percent of shipments.
Apple has been a major beneficiary of the exploding market, shipping a record 74.8 million iPhones in the holiday quarter. That's second only to Samsung's 81.5 million shipments, though arguably more impressive.
Apple sells just a handful of high-end models, the least expensive of which costs $450 without subsidies. In contrast, Samsung sells dozens of device variants -- some of which are available for under $100.
The most impressive growth among smartphone vendors didn't come from the U.S. or South Korea, though -- smaller regional players in emerging markets stole the show in 2015.
Meizu, Lava, Intex, Vivo, Tecno, and Oppo all posted growth in excess of 100 percent for the year thanks in part to the swelling middle class in China, India, and Thailand. More established brands like Asus, Huawei, and ZTE also recorded impressive numbers, though far lower than their smaller competitors.
The shift in marketshare has come at a cost for former heavyweights like Motorola, HTC, Lenovo, Sony and Nokia, which all saw shipments contract by 10 percent or more.
The massive, increasingly crowded smartphone sector now counts some 850 competitive brands, according to new data from Counterpoint Research. The market remains a mile wide and inch deep, however -- the 20 largest companies account for nearly 85 percent of shipments.
Apple has been a major beneficiary of the exploding market, shipping a record 74.8 million iPhones in the holiday quarter. That's second only to Samsung's 81.5 million shipments, though arguably more impressive.
Apple sells just a handful of high-end models, the least expensive of which costs $450 without subsidies. In contrast, Samsung sells dozens of device variants -- some of which are available for under $100.
The most impressive growth among smartphone vendors didn't come from the U.S. or South Korea, though -- smaller regional players in emerging markets stole the show in 2015.
Meizu, Lava, Intex, Vivo, Tecno, and Oppo all posted growth in excess of 100 percent for the year thanks in part to the swelling middle class in China, India, and Thailand. More established brands like Asus, Huawei, and ZTE also recorded impressive numbers, though far lower than their smaller competitors.
The shift in marketshare has come at a cost for former heavyweights like Motorola, HTC, Lenovo, Sony and Nokia, which all saw shipments contract by 10 percent or more.
Comments
Misleading how? The story is about the growth of the smartphone market...
The market remains a mile wide and inch deep, however -- the 20 largest companies account for nearly 85 percent of profits.
Hasn't it been reported multiple times on this site that Apple takes home well over 90% of global smartphone profits? How then does it take 20 companies to get 85%?
Apple's invention has taken over the world population. Definitely one of the most fascinating points in human history.
The article said 85% of shipments, not profits.
If we're looking at actual smartphones, you'd take 40% of these out anyway since, as Counterpoint documents:
- 3 in 5 smartphones shipped in 2015 were LTE capable i.e. 900 million LTE smartphones were shipped globally in 2015, a breakout year for mobile industry
- 3 in 5 smartphones shipped in premium segment (>$400) in 2015 were iPhones.
There's a whole lot more statements on the original website so I'm not going to do AI's job to actually filter out the important information. We all know Apple doesn't sell the most mobile devices but they do sell the most real smartphones (with LTE capability) and command the lion's share of profits.When you're a troll you can find at least one site reporting a metric that goes along with what you, deep down in the core of your being, hopes and prays to be true.