Samsung still market leader despite Galaxy Note 7 woes in the third quarter

Samsung announced its third fiscal quarter earnings today and it truly became evident just how much financial damage the Galaxy Note 7 recall has caused. The handset had the potential of further extending Samsung’s lead in the mobile market but unfortunately its potential can never be realized. Nevertheless, despite its Galaxy Note 7 woes, Samsung remained the leader in the global smartphone market this past quarter. Latest data from research firm International Data Corporation shows that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 362.9 million units worldwide in the third quarter with Samsung accounting for 20 percent of all shipments.

Data shows that Samsung shipped 72.5 million units in the third quarter which gave it a 20 percent share in the global smartphone market this past quarter. The company’s shipments declined 3.3 percent from the same time last year when it shipped 83.8 million units to command 23.3 percent of the market. Despite the recall and all of the negative publicity associated with the Galaxy Note 7, IDC finds that continued sales of the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge helped maintain volumes for Samsung. The affordable Galaxy J series also played its part in driving volumes in both developed and emerging markets.

Samsung is still far ahead of its rivals when it comes to unit shipments. Apple retained its second place on the list with shipments of 45.5 million units in the third quarter to clinch 12.5 percent of the market. It’s followed by Huawei, Oppo and Vivo in the remaining top 5 places with 9.3 percent, 7.0 percent and 5.8 percent of the market respectively.