Apple Narrowly Beats Samsung in 4Q16 Smartphone Sales, BlackBerry Drops to 0% Market Share [Chart]

Apple finished 4Q16 with slightly more smartphone sales than Samsung, capturing 17.9% of the market compared to Samsung's 17.8%, reports Gartner.

It's been two years since Apple topped the global smartphone vendor ranking but its lead is small with only 256,000 units difference.

"The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "This time it achieved it thanks to strong sales of its flagship phones — the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus; it also benefited from the weakened demand for Samsung's smartphones in mature markets such as North America and Western Europe, and in some mature markets in Asia such as Australia and South Korea."




Another notable tidbit from Gartner's report is the decline of BlackBerry's market share. The company captured 0.0% of the smartphone market in 4Q16 as it turns its focus towards software. At the time of the iPhone's launch 10 years ago, BlackBerry was a dominate force in smartphone arena.

Notably, TCL recently acquired the rights to design, manufacturer, and sell BlackBerry branded devices. Can the BlackBerry brand make a comeback?

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