IHS: Apple's iPhones Help Company Beat Samsung In Global Smartphone Shipments

Apple shipped more smartphone units worldwide than other companies in the fourth quarter of 2017, leaving Samsung and other smartphone makers behind, according to an IHS Markit report released on Friday.

The Cupertino company took first place in the global list of smartphone shipments, beating out Chinese competitors Xiaomi and Huawei.

Apple shipped 77.3 million units in the fourth quarter, but the figure was 1.2 percent lower than 2016 numbers. Samsung came in second place, shipping 74.3 million smartphones, a 2.2 percent decrease from 2016. Apple took 20 percent of overall global smartphone shipments, slightly beating Samsung, which took 19 percent.

The report said Apple’s $1,000 iPhone X gained traction as soon as it released in November. The iPhone X and iPhone 8 and 8 Plus devices helped Apple boost its typical smartphone prices, IHS said.

The report stated:

“New devices clearly helped Apple push its average selling price (ASP) to $796, which is $101 higher than the previous year. Even though the company sold fewer handsets in 2017, it was able to generate more revenue through new and higher-priced models.”

As for Samsung, the company offered customers more variety with its mid and high-end options. However, the Korean company had to spend more to market its devices. Samsung is expected to reveal its new devices this month.

Huawei and Xiaomi took third and fourth place, respectively, in global shipments. Huawei saw its shipments decline by 8.6 percent to 40.9 million units, while Xiaomi shipped 28.2 million units, 89 percent more than it did a year ago.

IHS released a break down of the quarter’s shipments:

Overall, global smartphone shipments decreased by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter, the report said. Companies shipped a total of 387.5 million units. However, shipments of the full year increased by 3.1 percent year over year, jumping from 1.40 billion units to 1.44 billion.

Apple Posts Record Revenue

The report comes after Apple posted a record $88.3 billion revenue for the last three months ending in December 2017. Apple’s Q1 2018 revenue saw a 13 percent year-on-year increase.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Thursday in the company’s earnings call that the iPhone X was the best-selling iPhone every week after it was launched. Apple's release of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in September also helped the company with its revenue. Cook said revenue from the latest iPhone lineup was the highest in the company’s history.

“We’ve also achieved a significant milestone with our active installed base of devices reaching 1.3 billion in January,” Cook said in a press release. “That’s an increase of 30 percent in just two years, which is a testament to the popularity of our products and the loyalty and satisfaction of our customers.”

While the company boasted the iPhone X’s popularity and revenue, the the number of iPhone units sold decreased from a year-ago quarter. iPhone sales in Q1 2018 declined one percent from Q1 2017.