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Motorola doubles up as U.S. smartphone shipments dip 2 percent overall

Brenda Stolyar
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Moto Z3
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Strategy Analytics recently published its full report, revealing U.S. smartphone shipments fell 2 percent in the third quarter of 2017. But even with this decline, Motorola actually saw its own shipments double since last year as it captured 5 percent of market share.

Motorola saw its smartphone shipments soar from 1.1 million units in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2016 to 2.1 million during the same period this year. The company now ranks fifth after not ranking in the top five since 2015.

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Motorala’s recovery in smartphone shipments can be attributed to all top U.S. carriers selling its latest models, including the Moto Z2 Play. We had some time to check out the device, and found that it had a solid performance and fun Moto Mods. Other models released this year include the Moto X, along with the Moto Z2 Force.

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Another company that saw an increase in market share due to its expanded retail presence is LG. Even though it stayed in the third spot, LG jumped from 16 percent to 17 percent within a year after joining major carriers like Sprint and AT&T.

As for the rest of the results, Apple, with a market share of 30 percent, is estimated to have shipped about 12 million iPhones in the third-quarter. Last year, the company was at 13 million iPhones and 32 percent market share. Even with a decrease in phones shipped, Apple still holds the number one spot. The decrease could be due to low demand for both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as customers may have delayed their purchase until the iPhone X was released.

Lighter demand for the new iPhone lineup may have played a role in the decrease in U.S. smartphone shipments  as well. The U.S. saw 40.1 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2016, while that figure fell to 39.5 million for the same period this year.

Samsung is up 1 percent since last year — trailing behind Apple with 9.9 million units shipped. Its flagship Samsung Galaxy S8 performed well in the category of high-tier smartphones, with the A5 model gaining popularity in the midtier.

While Motorola definitely took center stage when comparing annual improvement, ZTE was still one spot ahead, coming in at fourth place. With almost 12 percent market share, the company is up from 9 percent last year. The increase from 3.6 million units shipped during last year’s third quarter to 4.6 million units this year, can be attributed to its availability with Tracfone.

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Brenda Stolyar
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