IDC: Samsung, Apple Pave Way For Strong Third-Quarter Smartphone Market

In the third quarter the global smartphone market saw the second highest shipment levels ever in a single quarter, with 6.8 percent year-over-year unit shipment growth, according to market research firm IDC,.

Smartphone vendors Samsung and Apple paved the way for the strong third quarter, bringing new features to their premium smartphones such as bigger screens, enhanced processors and improved cameras.

"Apple saw 48 million units shipped and China was a good part of that," Anthony Scarsella, research manager for IDC's mobile phone team, told CRN. "They are continuing to see great success within China and also within the U.S. Samsung has a lot more sub-$200 models, and that's how Samsung gets their volume so high."

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Samsung was again the leading smartphone vendor in the third quarter of 2015, with 23.8 percent market share, according to IDC. With 84.5 million units shipped, the company saw 6.1 percent growth in its smartphone segment from the same quarter last year.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple had the second most shipments in the third quarter, according to IDC, and saw 22 percent growth from the same quarter last year. Apple's 48 million shipments in the third quarter, which were driven by its flagship iPhone sales, helped the company take 13.5 percent of the market.

Apple in September released its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus upgraded phones, which contained new Force Touch features and enhanced cameras, as well as a faster processor. In addition, the smartphone company cut prices across its older iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 models to drive more sales, as well as launch a new upgrade plan to drive growth in developed markets.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated on Tuesday's quarterly earnings call that the iPhone continues to drive sales for Apple, particularly with the company's new iPhone models in developed markets and in China.

"Momentum for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus remained very strong across the quarter and we established a new launch record for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus near the end of the quarter," he stressed on Tuesday.

That's true for Michael Oh, chief technology officer and founder of Boston-based TSP LLC, an Apple partner. "The interest across the Apple product line is consistent with previous quarters," he said.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter, Samsung continued targeting premium handsets with the launch of its new flagship devices, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and its Note 5, in August. These two new high-end devices helped the company gain stronger-than-normal September shipments according to IDC. Samsung, meanwhile, continues to focus on its entry level, under-$200 devices in emerging markets with the Galaxy Core and J-Series.

Other vendors in the smartphone market included Huawei, which scoped out 7.5 percent of the third-quarter market share by targeting the midrange and high-end smartphone market. According to IDC, nearly a third of Huawei's quarterly shipments were in the mid-to-high end price range.

Lenovo, another Chinese-based company, took the fourth spot for the most smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2015, according to IDC. With 18.8 million units shipped, Lenovo grew 11.1 percent from the same quarter last year and took 5.3 percent of the market share.