Samsung Electronics Narrows Gap with Apple in North American Smartphone Market

The popularity of the Galaxy S10 smartphone has helped Samsung Electronics significantly narrow its gap with Apple in the North American smartphone market.

Samsung Electronics' smartphone shipments in North America reached 10.7 million units in the first quarter of 2019, according to data released by Canalys, a market research company, on May 9.

This is a 3 percent jump from 10.3 million units shipped in the first quarter of last year. On the other hand, Apple’s shipments totaled 14.6 million units during this period, down 19 percent from 17.9 million units a year ago.

Apple posted a market share of 40 percent, a slight fall from 40.3 percent a year ago, while Samsung’s market share jumped from 23.2 percent to 29.3 percent during the same period, narrowing its gap with Apple to 10.7 percentage points.

In the first quarter of this year, smartphone shipments to the North American market totaled 36.4 million units, down 18 percent from the previous year and the lowest in five years. LG Electronics suffered a 24 percent drop in shipments from a year ago.

During this period, the best-selling smartphone in North America was the iPhone XR which accounted for 13 percent (4.5 million units) of the total. The Galaxy S10 Plus and the Galaxy S10e sold 2 million units each with a market share of 6 percent.

"The Galaxy S10’s triple camera, ultra-wide angle lens, hole punch display and wireless battery sharing function received much attention from consumers," a Canalys analyst said. "Mobile carriers’ sales promotions for the Galaxy S10 also paid off."