Samsung leads Q1 smartphone sales over Apple

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones, took the lead in the global smartphone market in the first quarter of the year on the back of a new product lineup and a stronger foothold in emerging markets, industry data showed on Friday.

Samsung Electronics sold 81.18 million smartphone units around the globe in the January-March period, taking up 23.2 percent of the total.

But its first-quarter market presence marks a decline from the previous year's 24.1 percent, according to the data compiled by market researcher Gartner.

Its archrival Apple Inc. accounted for 14.8 percent of the global smartphone market to ship 51.62 million units during the first quarter, also down from the previous year's 17.9 percent presence, the data showed.

"Samsung's Galaxy S7 series phones and renewed portfolio positioned it as a strong competitor in the smartphone market, and more so in the emerging markets where it has been facing fierce competition from local manufacturers," said Gartner.

In contrast, Chinese rivals sharply expanded their market shares in the first quarter, aided by rising demand for budget smartphones.

Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo grew in China taking market share from players such as Lenovo and Samsung.

Huawei sold 28.86 million smartphones globally in the first quarter to account for 8.3 percent of the total which marks a rise from the 5.4 percent presence a year earlier.

Oppo had the best performance in the quarter with sales growth of 145 percent.

Meanwhile, global smartphone sales totaled 349 million units in the first quarter, which is 3.9 percent growth over same period in 2015. Gartner says smartphone sales were driven by demand for low-cost smartphones in the emerging markers. (Yonhap)