New Delhi May 16 (IANS) Global smartphone shipments have bounced back logging a growth of 11 per cent in the first quarter this year compared to a two per cent decline in the same period last year a report said on Tuesday.
A total of 375 million smartphone units were shipped in the first quarter according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.
The smartphone penetration has reached over 80 per cent of the mobile phones shipped in the first quarter with the top 10 brands contributing to almost 73 per cent of the smartphone volumes.
The affordable premium segment -- $300~$399 -- was the fastest growing smartphone segment during the quarter mainly driven by OPPO vivo and Samsung A series smartphones the report noted.
Due to the softness in iPhone volumes and controlled inventory of the Samsung flagship Galaxy S7/S7+ ahead of the Galaxy S8 series launch the premium segment declined annually and accounted for almost 20 per cent of the global smartphone market.
Meanwhile the smartphones in the $100~$199 price segment accounted for one in three smartphones shipped globally registering a 29 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2017.
This price segment is mainly driven by Samsung s J series Huawei s Honor series OPPO s A series and Xiaomi s Redmi series smartphones.
--IANS
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Global smartphone shipments log double digit growth
