Oppo and Vivo record highest growth, Samsung shipped more phones than Apple and Huawei combined: IDC

So, it is true after all. The smartphone market is stagnating across the globe or at least the most recent figures from IDC say so. According to the new report, a total of 334.9 million smartphones were shipped worldwide in the last quarter, which is just 0.2 percent increase from the 334.3 million units seen in Q1 2015. It is being recorded as the smallest year-over-year growth. We’ve already seen that Apple has witnessed its first ever sales drop in nine years. However, Samsung is believed to continue to dominate the space. The report claims that Samsung shipped more than smartphones than Huawei and Apple combined. Take a look at this IDC chart for a clearer view of the numbers.  The report also shows how Lenovo and Xiaomi have slipped from their positions, and do not come within the top 5 smartphone brands. They have been replaced by Chinese vendors Oppo and Vivo. “Outside of China, many of these brands are virtually unknown and the ability of these rapidly growing Chinese vendors to gain entry into mature markets such as the United States and Western Europe will be essential if they have aspirations of catching Apple or Samsung at the top,” said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Huawei has proven that it can sell increasingly premium devices. In China, Huawei is already recognized as a premium brand, but it is now going toe-to-toe on build quality with premium devices like the Nexus 6P that are available worldwide. While Huawei is furthest along in terms of international recognition, selling equally impressive volumes outside of China remains a challenge for many of these brands, whether it is Xiaomi, Lenovo, OPPO, or vivo. Their ability to drive local growth no longer applies when it comes to international expansion, where premium branding quickly turns to price competition,” Scarsella adds.