Fresh reports on global smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2015 showed that Apple and Samsung still trumped the competition as they dominated the market, according to IT analytics firmJuniper Research in its Smartphone Quarterly Report, which also revealed that collective global smartphone sales reached 338 million units in the past quarter, which is translated to 16 percent growth.
The tales of Apple and Samsung's performance are, however, different. Apple has sold more devices, effectively bucking the perceived slowdown or maturing of the market, with a record-breaking 47.7 million units shipped. The company's revenue increased 112 percent or $13 billion yearly, according to the report. The performance is considered to be reinforced by robust demand in the Chinese market during the first part of the year. The same may not be said, however, about the coming months as Apple fell to third position in Chinese market beginning in the second quarter of 2015, CNN learned.
Samsung's sales, on the other hand, are still in decline, although it posted a more profitable product fix in 2015, eWeek reported. "Margins at Samsung's mobile division fell to 10.6 percent from 15.5 percent a year earlier during the second quarter of 2015, despite the April launch of its critically acclaimed Galaxy S6 range," reports Business Insider. This was partly due to the inability of the company to ship orders on time due to components shortage. The company is now scrambling to address its declining sales in the coming months through significant price cuts in its handsets, including the Galaxy S6 variants, before it introduces new product lines at the latter part of 2015.
The Smartphone Quarterly Report also noted the significant headways made by other handset manufacturers such as Microsoft with its Windows phones. It saw a 12 percent increase in units sold over last year. There are also the Chinese manufacturers, Huawei and Xiaomi, which both posted sales increases, driven by their popularity at home.
