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Samsung flames out as Chinese march on

Biggest market share crash in Gartner history

Samsung is paying the price for the Galaxy Note 7 disaster. The South Korean giant recorded its largest ever fall in global smartphone market share in Q3, Gartner reckons.

“Samsung’s smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2016 as a whole declined 14.2 per cent year over year — their worst performance ever. Samsung’s previous worst performance for smartphone sales was a 12.3 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2014,” the analyst outfit notes.

The three biggest Chinese manufacturers now outsell the market no.1, a sales milestone. Huawei rose to 8.7 per cent with Oppo and BBK more than doubling their shares to 6.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent.

Apple also continued to fall, shipping 3m fewer units than the same period a year ago, to 43m, a 13 per cent share.

In Q2 Gartner lauded Samsung for its strong performance, with its Samsung Galaxy A and Galaxy J selling well against the Chinese upstarts.

Market-watchers fear brand “contagion” after Samsung had to recall 7 million Galaxy Note 7 flagships. The exploding smartphone became an object of derision after replacement units also burst into flames.

The product was eventually discontinued. ®

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