Samsung retains the lead in smartphone shipments globally

It appears that the release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge has once again put the Samsung as the lead of the smartphone company with the most global shipments. According to a new report from TrendForce, most consumers seem to wanna get their hands on the Galaxy flagships, which has resulted not only in increased sales and shipments but has also helped the Korean OEM retain its top spot in the listing of global smartphone share.Also notable in the report is the fact that the global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2016 feature a slight reduction of 1.3% compared to those of the same period last year, with 292 million units.  This apparently is mostly due to market saturation. Apple and Samsung were particularly mentioned as witnessing a growth reduction, as shipments lessened for developed markets, whereas the Chinese manufacturers accommodated to the developing regions.Reportedly, the shipments as well as exports from Chinese manufacturers, accumulated up to 125 million units for the Q1 2016. This took up around 42.9% of smartphone shipments globally, which is a 1.4% steady increase from the previous quarter.The report however cited some disappointing new for the Apple OEM, as it posted its first highest decline in the shipment of its iPhone devices. With last year's fourth quarter reaching as much as 75 millions, this year's first quarter saw the iPhone shipments drop to just a 42 million units, which means it diminished at a 43.8 percentage. This was partly because of the low sales made from the iPhone 6S models that hit the market last year.This makes you wonder just what Apple's plans are in terms of long-term profits. Perhaps this one of the reasons, it is trying to establish a reserved market, with their latest iPhone SE smartphone that focuses on a low cost price range while still offering some of its premium specs. It is still early to say what kind of effect this will have on its long-term profits.On the other end, Samsung has been applauded tremendously for their latest flagship offerings, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, most especially for including a water resistance capabilities as well as bringing back support for MicroSD cards. This bundled with a noticeable difference between the Galaxy S7 variants, with S7 Edge edition boasting much larger screen size along with enhanced functionality in its curved edge screen, have imparted the Q1 2016 2.5% increase in shipments in contrast to Q4 2015, at 81 million units.Meanwhile, other smartphone manufacturers such as Sony and HTC were not included in the top listings, but instead were placed as part of the 'Others' category at the bottom. Given that LG did not release their LG G5 until the start of April, we can expect to see the data of their sales and shipments disclosed towards the end of the second quarter. Similarly, the HTC 10 has also not yet hit the market, thus it could not be featured in the Q1 OEM shipments.What are your thoughts on the current shipment results? Let us know in the comments below.