Kiwi smartphone shipments plunge and the leader changes - again

Smartphone shipments in New Zealand last quarter were slashed, but the market seems to have forgiven Samsung for the Note 7 fiasco, with the vendor reclaiming top spot.

Samsung reclaimed the top position from Apple, taking 40% market share – up from 26% in Q4.

The news wasn't all bad for Apple, however. Despite losing the top spot, it grew its share from 31% to 38%.

Huawei and Vodafone, however, were among those seeing the greatest declines, plunging from 21% to 11% and from 11% to 4%, respectively.

Chayse Gorton, IDC New Zealand client device analyst, says what makes Samsung's result even more impressive is that Q1 shipment numbers don't include the reently released Galaxy S8.

"These went on sale nationwide in May 2017, so will help bolster Samsung's second quarter shipments," Gorton says.

IDC notes that Samsung's worked with Kiwi telcos to blacklist the Note 7 devices on the New Zealand network to minimise complications and losses in consumer confidence – a move that appears to have paid off for the vendor.

Shipments overall plummeted for the quarter, when compared to a year earlier. Vendors shipped 244,000 smartphones in the January to March 2017 timeframe, compared to 347,000 shipped during the same period in 2016.

However, Gorton says that decline isn't surprising. Many vendors shipped large quantities of devices into the channel late last year, which continued to be sold over the first quarter, he says.

"The Smartphone market is in for an exciting year, with the expected launch of the 10th generation iPhone set to boost Apple's shipments and enable Apple to again challenge Samsung for the leading position," Gorton says.