The end of last year brought a 6% decline in smartphone sales. Figures from IDC show that four of the top five brands sold fewer phones. Apple by 1,3 percent, Samsung by 4,4 percent, Huawei by 9,7 and Oppo even by 13,2. The only exception in the top five is the Chinese Xiaomi, which sold almost twice as many phones year-on-year. Other brands then sold 17,6 percent fewer smartphones year-on-year.
According to IDC, it became the most successful company of the fourth quarter of 2017 Apple, which sold 77,3 million smartphones. The second Samsung sold 74,1 and the third Huawei sold 41 million smartphones. Xiaomi sold 28,1 million phones in the last three months of last year. In the previous year, it disappeared from the top five.
The number one mobile market for the entire year 2017 is clearly Samsung, which sold 317,3 million phones, 101,5 million more than the second Apple and almost two percent more than in 2016. Apple sold 215,8 million iPhones, which is a year-on-year increase of two percent. Huawei, which for a while became the world's number two, finished in third place. Huawei sold 153,1 million smartphones, mainly thanks to higher demand for the Mate series phones, and the cheaper Honor brand increased its production by a tenth.
However, Huawei lost hope for further significant growth in 2018, the pressure of the US government on local operators fundamentally limited the company's chance to establish itself in North America. Oppo was fourth with a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. However, sister company Vivo did not show up on the list. Xiaomi is in fifth place in the numbers for the whole year 2017. Xiaomi was helped by a strong position in India and Russia and in Europe, during last year Xiaomi also officially entered the Czech Republic, directly in the offer of mobile operators thanks to the support of European LTE frequencies and the introduction of the Mi A1 phone from the program Android The one with the clean one Androidem instead of the user-centered MIUI. Samsung will officially present at this year's Mobile World Congress Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. However, according to the available information, they will not introduce major innovations, they will come later with a phone equipped with a flexible display. Samsung has already promised to start selling such a mobile this year.
