Skip to main content

Samsung defeats Apple, reclaims its crown as the #1 smartphone maker

After matching Apple when it came to getting smartphones out the warehouse door at the end of 2014, the latest research shows Samsung is now back in the number one spot, having shipped 83.2 million smartphones during the first three months of 2015. That’s up from 74.5 million at the end of last year, a figure matched at the time by Apple.

Apple’s shipments fell to 61.2 million between January and March, putting the company in second position behind Samsung, both of which are way ahead of Lenovo/Motorola in third place, collectively shipping 18.8 million devices over the same time. Close behind, in fourth, is Huawei with 17.3 million shipments.

Recommended Videos

These figures come from Strategy Analytics, which also collated market share for the top smartphone players. Samsung’s performance nets it a 24.1-percent share of the global smartphone market, leaving Apple with 17.7 percent, Lenovo/Motorola with 5.4 percent, and Huawei with 5 percent.

Strategy Analytics also released figures on the number of mobile phones — a figure which includes feature phones, not just smartphones — shipped globally. This revealed how Microsoft is performing, and the news isn’t good. At the beginning of 2015, Microsoft had 33.7 million phone shipments on the books, down 33 percent on the end of 2014, giving it a 7.6-percent marketshare — an all-time low, according to analysts. In total, it’s estimated 445 million phones have been shipped already this year.

How will this change over the coming months? Samsung’s expecting to increase its lead now the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are on sale, and has stated sales have been “exceeding all reasonable expectations.” Microsoft isn’t predicting anything quite so grand, but will be counting on Windows 10 making an impact to increase its smartphone sales. A new flagship phone wouldn’t go amiss, either.

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Even Samsung and Apple can’t fix the mess that is Qi2 charging
The unfolded Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station.

Samsung wasn’t the first phone maker to adopt wireless charging, but it was the first to make it widely available in its flagship phones. Starting with the Galaxy S5, each Samsung flagship featured wireless charging integrated into the phone itself, and Apple continued the trend with the launch of the iPhone two years later.

However, wireless charging has not improved much since then, and companies have sought individual approaches. Apple launched the MagSafe standard five years ago, and the next generation of wireless charging standards was announced three years later.

Read more
It’s time for Apple, Samsung and Google to solve the eSIM problem
Nano SIM card in SIM card tray from iPhone 14 Pro Max.

When Apple launched the new iPhone 16e on Wednesday, the Apple Store in every region displayed one thing under connectivity: eSIM. There was no mention of a physical SIM, and I had a waking nightmare that Apple had quietly pulled the plug, and every iPhone 16e globally would be sold as an eSIM-only model.

A quick search — and a look at the photos — confirmed that this hadn’t happened, but my reaction kickstarted a thought about eSIMs, their promise (and what we were promised), and the current state of eSIMs globally. I’ve been traveling for the past month, and eSIMs are an absolute mess. The potential was immense, but it goes against carriers’ interests to make it any easier, but there is a solution.

Read more
The Apple iPhone 16e is here, and it’s everything we hoped for
A press image of the iPhone 16e.

Apple has launched the iPhone 16e, and if you’ve been looking out for a cost-effective way to get into iPhone ownership, it should probably be at the top of your list. The phone has been rumored, leaked, and discussed for years under the name of the iPhone SE 4, but now we have all the official details to help you decide if this should be your next iPhone.

Lets go through what to expect from the new iPhone 16e. It has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR screen, which is the same as fitted to the iPhone 16 (and the iPhone 14, and iPhone 15), with Apple’s protective Ceramic Shield over it, encased in an aluminum frame with a glass rear panel. At the top of the screen is the familiar notch, housing Apple’s TrueDepth camera for FaceID. There's no Dynamic Island though, and the old Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the iPhone SE (2022) is also long gone. Inside is the Apple A18 processor, just like the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, but it's made unique by being the first with Apple's own in-house developed modem called the C1. The phone also incorporates the same 16-core Neural Engine as other 16 series models too, so it supports the latest iOS 18 software along with Apple Intelligence AI features. These include the Image Playground app, Writing Tools, image editing with Clean Up, and plenty more.

Read more