Consumer Electronics

As Samsung Sales Surge, a Threat to iPhone 7

courtesy of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

By the time Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAP) iPhone 7 comes out of the box, Samsung’s success already may have eaten up demand for high-end smartphones. A new piece of research shows that is entirely possible.

According to Strategy Analytics:

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge was the world’s top-selling Android smartphone model in the first half of 2016. Samsung currently accounts for the three top-selling Android smartphone models shipped worldwide.

Linda Sui, director at the Strategy Analytics, said:

Global Android smartphone shipments grew 5 percent annually from 552.2 million units in H1 2015 to 577.3 million in H1 2016. The Android smartphone category is outgrowing Apple iOS, whose global smartphone shipments fell 16 percent annually from 108.7 million in H1 2015 to 91.6 million in H1 2016.

Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, added:

We estimate the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge model shipped 13.3 million units and accounted for 2 percent share of all Android smartphones shipped worldwide in H1 2016. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge is currently the world’s most popular Android smartphone. The S7 edge is wildly popular in dozens of countries globally, due to its attractive curved hardware design blended with a sidebar of apps that consumers find easy to use.

To dig deeply into the Galaxy S7 edge market, Apple’s iPhone 7 will have to be a revolutionary product, and not simply an advance of the iPhone 6 family, the demand for which has faltered badly. If a successful new iPhone launch is measured by 70 million units sold in its first full quarter on the market, Apple has a steep mountain to climb.

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