iPhone X Should Push Apple Ahead of Samsung as World's Largest Smartphone Maker

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Apple will dethrone Samsung as the world's largest smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of 2017, on the strength of strong iPhone X demand, according to Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce.

iphone x vs samsung galaxy
TrendForce estimates Apple will record 19.1 percent market share in the quarter, encompassing the busy holiday shopping season, which would be slightly ahead of Samsung's estimated 18.2 percent market share. Chinese vendors Huawei, OPPO, and Xiaomi are expected to round off the top five.

trendforce q4 17
The feat would be impressive as always given that Samsung sells over a dozen different smartphone models, including some as cheap as $200, whereas Apple primarily caters to the high-end market beyond the iPhone SE for $349.

Samsung is expected to slightly scale back the production of its high-end models in the fourth quarter as the brand is seeing the sales of its smartphones being squeezed by the strong demand for Apple's latest iPhone devices. TrendForce estimates that Samsung's fourth-quarter total volume will come to 77 million units, a 5% drop from the third quarter.

The fourth quarter has always been the strongest for Apple, given it launches new devices in the fall, allowing it to surpass Samsung in the year-ago quarter as well. Samsung's Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were released back in April, so sales momentum is likely beginning to decline for those devices.

Meanwhile, market research firm Canalys estimates the iPhone 8 Plus outpaced the iPhone 8 last quarter with shipments of 6.3 million units and 5.4 million units respectively. Canalys said the iPhone 8 Plus is the first Plus-sized iPhone to out-ship its smaller 4.7-inch sibling in a single quarter.

Apple doesn't disclose iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but chief Tim Cook said the iPhone 8 Plus has "gotten off to the fastest start of any Plus model," which came as "a bit of a surprise" to the company.

As far as iPhone X sales are concerned, Apple's guidance of $84-$87 billion revenue for the holiday quarter suggests that demand for the device will be significant. Apple should easily beat its all-time record for revenue in a single quarter of $78.4 billion, achieved in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Tags: Canalys, Samsung, TrendForce
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

haruhiko Avatar
haruhiko
90 months ago
Samsung feels so insecure that they need to produce an ad to mock it.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deanthedev Avatar
deanthedev
90 months ago
It quite rare to see iphone user.. unless contract telco
Where do you live? Inside Samsung headquarters?
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
iapplelove
90 months ago
I absolutely love this new iPhone. It kinda made me fall in love with iPhones again. My 6 plus was getting stale.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alwaysbeincontact Avatar
alwaysbeincontact
90 months ago
Awesome! The 8 and 10 are great phones!!
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deanthedev Avatar
deanthedev
90 months ago
The feat would be impressive as always given that Samsung sells over a dozen different smartphone models, including some as cheap as $200, whereas Apple primarily caters to the high-end market beyond the iPhone SE for $349.
Uh, Samsung sells boatloads of phones in the $50-100 range. The majority of their sales are also in this range. That’s why their ASP is in the low $200 range, and why you can’t compare total sales from each company.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michael Scrip Avatar
Michael Scrip
90 months ago
I love when people make posts like this and don't tag it as "IMO," because IMO the notch is better than wasting the space next to it by pushing the battery, signal, time, and wifi indicators down and using the full part of the screen and taking away space from the apps you're using. So I guess if you don't like utilizing as much space as possible, then sure, the notch is idiotic.
Exactly.

Apple obviously needs hardware at the top of the screen for the earpiece, camera and FaceID sensors.

But instead of wasting space across the entire top of the phone... they put everything in the middle and flanked it with two extra screen areas for info. You're right... your clock and battery icon don't have to invade your app area anymore.

Samsung, on the other hand, has a bezel at the top that stretches ALL the way across... thus pushing your clock, battery and notifications into the main screen area.

Oh... and they have a second bezel at the bottom of the phone... that actually does nothing! It's blank!

Samsung Galaxy S8! Two bezels! Top and bottom!

How come no one ever talks about that? :p
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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