Samsung Beats Out Apple As Top Smartphone For Q1

Samsung took the greatest share of cell phone activations in the U.S., edging out Apple and far surpassing LG. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) found that Samsung represented 39 percent of U.S. mobile phone activations, followed by Apple at 31 percent and LG at 14 percent, the company said in a press release.

“As in most quarters, Samsung had the greatest share of activations,” CIRP partner and co-founder Josh Lowitz said in the press release. “Shares, of course, vary seasonally and based on product launches. Apple led in the December 2017 quarter following the launch of the new iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X. As iPhone demand settled in after these launches, and Samsung brought its new Galaxy S9 and S9+ to market, shares reversed, returning to the levels seen in recent quarters.”

In addition, Samsung improved its share over both the March 2017 and December 2017 quarters. But, last year at this time, Samsung lost share relative to a year before. And, over the past five quarters, Samsung, LG, and Motorola increased their loyalty rates, while Apple’s loyalty rate remained constant.

The news comes as a report from Flurry Analytics indicated that Apple might have won the 2017 smartphone holiday season, with iPhones and iPads making up 44 percent of devices activated from December 19 to December 25.

“Similar to last year, 44 percent of new phone and tablet activations were Apple devices,” the company wrote in a blog post. “While Samsung dominates global market share, they fell short as the gift of choice during the holiday season, with only 26 percent of activated devices in the lead up to Christmas. Samsung’s activation rate is up 5 percent from the 2016 holiday season, which can likely be attributed to the 2017 introduction of the Galaxy S8 after the late 2016 recall of their malfunctioning Note devices.”

The analytics company, which says its data is used by over 1 million mobile apps across 2.1 billion devices, captures all other phone and tablet makers in the single digits, with Huawei, Xiaomi, Motorola, LG, Oppo and Vivo each falling between 5 percent and 2 percent.