Smartphone shipments hit record high in 2015

Meanwhile, No. 2 Apple saw 74.8 million phones shipped in the fourth quarter, a new high, IDC noted, but only 300,000 units more than it shipped in the fourth quarter of 2014. For Lenovo, the Q4 shipments totaled 20.2 million, which was a market share of 5.1-percent and a year-over-year growth of 43.6-percent.

On Tuesday, Apple reported the slowest growth in iPhones since the company began selling the smartphones in 2007 and cautioned that iPhone sales are in for their first slump ever in the March quarter. Likewise, Xiaomi shipped 70.8 million smartphones and saw a market share for 2015 of 4.9-percent and a year-over-year growth of 22.8-percent. It said that a total of 399.5 million phones were shipped during the fourth quarter of 2015, up 5.7 percent from 377.8 million units shipped in the last quarter of 2014. Apple’s shipments for the quarter were up 0.4 per cent year-on-year.

Samsung’s 320 million smartphones shipped in 2015 was less than it shipped in 2014, and it will nearly certainly ship less over the course of this year. “Global smartphone shipments grew 12 percent annually from 1.28 billion in full-year 2014 to a record 1.44 billion in 2015”.

“While there is a lot of uncertainty around the economic slowdown in China, Huawei is one of the few brands from China that has successfully diversified worldwide”.

Apple increased its smartphone share to 16.2 percent from 14.8 percent.

Coming in at No. 3 for the quarter, Huawei delivered the strongest quarterly growth in shipments among the top 5 vendors, according to IDC.

“With initial Apple shipment estimates all over the map, Apple assured the public that demand for its premium smartphones is still alive and kicking”, said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Samsung and Apple, the world’s largest and second-largest smartphone makers by shipments, respectively, retained their positions.

However, the report also suggests that the industry is slowing down. Of the key brands originating from China, Huawei has consistently expanded its presence and share on the back of affordable handsets in emerging markets, combined with increasingly competitive flagship models. Third place Huawei had a strong fourth quarter as shipments rose 37% year-over-year to 32.4 million. The Lenovo-Motorola combine came in fourth followed by another Chinese rival Xiaomi.