Apple iPhone 6s Was the World's Top-Selling Smartphone in Q2 2016

Technology

Published: September 6, 2016 1:06 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:53 am

Global shipments of smartphones grew 1% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2016 to a total of 341.5 million units. In the same quarter last year shipments totaled 338 million units.

The iPhone 6s from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the top seller, with 14.2 million units shipped, ahead of the iPhone 6 in second place with 8.5 million units shipped and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with 8.3 million units.

On a global market share basis, the iPhone 6s had 4.2%, the iPhone 6 had 2.5%,and Galaxy S7 Edge claimed 2.4% of the global market. The top three phones account for less than 10% of the total global market.

Strategy Analytics released the data Tuesday and director Linda Sui said, “Smartphone growth is sluggish at the moment due to ongoing economic volatility worldwide, high ownership penetration in most major countries, and a lack of new innovation from device manufacturers.”

Maybe that lack of innovation will get a jolt on Wednesday, September 7, from Apple’s fall dog-and-pony show for its latest iPhone, dubbed by everyone but Apple itself as the iPhone 7. The new iPhone is expected to have a much improved camera and the 7 Plus may even include a dual-lens camera.

A new A10 CPU is expected with a 2.4 GHz clock, the screen color and sharpness should be better, the Home button may be gone, and the 16 GB option could be gone as well.

The best news, however, may be the price of the iPhone 7. Forbes reported last Friday that a Chinese website had a price of 5,288 RMB (about $792) for a 32 GB iPhone 7. That’s not much more than the Chinese price for iPhone 6s with 16 GB of memory. If the phone is priced similarly around the world there could be a new leader in the league table for the fourth quarter.

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