For the first time since April last year, Samsung regained the No. 1 spot in the U.S. smartphone market, new research shows. According to a new report from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research seen by Business Korea, Samsung accounted for 28.8% of the U.S. market for the month of March – the Galaxy S7 was unveiled in late February at this year’s MWC 2016 mobile trade show.
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Apple dropped to second place with 23% of the market and LG took the third spot with 17.1% of the market. Meanwhile, Asian smartphone vendors are still struggling in America. The same research notes that ZTE and Huawei accounted for just 6.6% and 1%, respectively, of the market. Alcatel, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate TCL, took 4.5% of the market.
In spite of massive sales, Apple’s last earnings report was disappointing. The iPhone 6s failed to reach the same impressive sales numbers of its predecessor, and the newly launched iPhone SE has yet to have a meaningful impact.
Financially, Apple did astronomically better than rivals, including Samsung, even though it may have lost the top spot for March when it comes to smartphone sales.
The battle will continue in the coming quarters as each company is preparing to launch its next-gen smartphone.s Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 7 in mid-September, and Samsung is rumored to have the Galaxy Note 6 in stores a month earlier.
