Apple is back on top! Well, at least in terms of the best-selling smartphones list from Counterpoint’s Market Pulse survey for May 2018. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, depending on how you look at it, the iPhone X isn’t their top-selling device but rather the more “traditional” iPhone 8. Samsung is still very much a close second, but it’s not the Galaxy S9 that’s there but rather the bigger Galaxy S9 Plus, which was April’s best-selling device. It was weaker month on month in Europe, but in terms of US sales, it was steadier.
Apple leveraged on its strong promotions running up to the World Cup, which strengthened buyer interest in Europe and other markets. The margin between it and the Galaxy S9 Plus was very, very slight, so we will not be surprised if next month the two will change positions once again, or if a new player will be on top. Xiaomi continues to be strong in China and India, two important markets in terms of smartphone sales. The Xiaomi Redmi 5A and Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus series both performed well and the newly-released Xiaomi 8 is expected to be on this list soon.
Huawei also grew in both developing markets (China and India) and despite its P20 Lite being the only one in the Top 10, its entire P20 series (P20, P20 Pro, P20 Lite) had pretty good combined sales and market share as well. The Vivo X21 also gained momentum and one of the heavily marketed features here is its in-display fingerprint, which some users are looking for. The Oppo A83 also did well, getting the last spot in the top 10, probably due to price-cuts and heavy promotions as well.
The next few months will see more premium and flagship devices released so it would be interesting to see how they will affect this list. Apple is set to announce its new iPhone and Samsung is also expected to release the new Note device, maybe even earlier than expected.
SOURCE: Counterpoint Research
