Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 383 million units in the third quarter of 2017, a 3% increase over the same period in 2016, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com)All of the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth apart from Apple, which achieved a 5.7% increase, adds the research group. 

"Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017," said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "Emerging Asia/Pacific (15% increase) and North America (11.2% increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter." 

"In emerging Asia Pacific, both Samsung and Huawei saw healthy demand as along with Xiaomi and Vivo, which were able to grow their footprint outside their home markets," added Gupta. "In North America, Samsung was the driving force in the quarter due to its new flagship products.”

Samsung’s smartphone sales recorded a double-digit increase (19.3%) in the third quarter of 2017.

"Renewed pushes of the newly designed Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 smartphones have brought back growing demand for Samsung smartphones, which helped it compete against Chinese manufacturers and deliver a solid performance in the quarter," said Gupta. "The last time Samsung achieved a double-digit growth was in the fourth quarter of 2015." 

Apple's sales grew 5.7% year-over-year. The company returned to growth in China and also saw strong sales in many of the emerging markets, including India. This is due to the continued sales of legacy iPhones, including the iPhone 5S which retails at around $240 street price in most markets, says Gartner.