SYDNEY: Apple is continuing to run away with the smartphone market in Australia, according to the latest figures from Gartner. These show that in the fourth quarter of 2019, Apple Oz sold 1.55 million smartphones, or 54.2pc of the Aussie market, to end users, while Samsung lagged well behind with 522,000 units.
Chinese maker Oppo was in third place with 282,000, followed by Huawei with 192,000.
Total Australian sales by all vendors reached 2.86 million, up from 2.7 million in the same period of 2018.
The Australian results differ markedly from the overall global market, where Samsung held the top spot with sales of 70.4 million units in the quarter.
It was followed by Apple on 69.5 million, Huawei on 58.3 million and Xiaomi with 32.4 million. Total sales across the globe numbered 406.6 million, down from 408 million in the previous year.
Samsung lead the way with 17.3pc of the global market, closely followed by Apple on 17.1pc.
According to Gartner research VP Annett Zimmermann, a slight lowering of international pricing for the iPhone 11 series saw demand for Apple’s phone increase, helping Apple regain the No. 2 spot. Apple will be looking to further improve its market share in Q3 of this year, when he company is expected to launch its first 5G smartphone.
“This will encourage users to upgrade in countries where 5G network services are available”, Gartner says – and, yes, Australia will be one of those countries. – DF
