9to5.mac : Latest Gartner data shows Apple edge out Samsung in market share duri


Gartner today is out with its latest report concerning the smartphone industry during the fourth quarter of 2016. According to the data, global sales of smartphones to users totaled 432 million units during the quarter, an increase of 7 percent compared to the year before.
Perhaps most notably, Q4 2016 saw Apple leapfrog Samsung to become the number 1 global smartphone vendor….

In Q4 2016, Apple sold roughly 77 million iPhones, up from 71.5 million compared to the year before. That growth pushed Apple to 17.9 percent of the smartphone market, a 2 percent increase year-over-year. Samsung, on the other hand, saw shipments fall from 83.4 million to 76.7 million, thus causing its market share to slide from 20.7 percent to 17.8 percent.
It has taken eight quarters for Apple to regain the No. 1 global smartphone vendor ranking, but the positions of the two leaders have never been so close, with only 256,000 units difference. “The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner.
With that in mind, here’s how the smartphone industry looks in terms of Q4 2016 market share:
  1. Apple – 17.9 percent
  2. Samsung – 17.8 percent
  3. Huawei – 9.5 percent
  4. Oppo – 6.2 percent
  5. BBK Communication Equipment – 5.6 percent
For 2016 as a whole, smartphone sales totaled nearly 1.5 billion, up around 5 percent from the year before. In terms of vendors, however, Samsung reigned supreme. The company shipped 306.4 million smartphones, giving it 20.5 percent of the market. Apple shipped 216.06 million smartphones for 14.4 percent of the market.
Samsung’s share is down 2 percent year-over-year, while its shipments were down roughly 14 million. Apple saw its share fall from 15.9 percent to 14.4 percent, while shipments were down 9 million units.
Samsung and Apple both lost market share to up and coming Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei and Oppo, both of which saw an increase in their share year-over-year. This is a trend that has taking shape for several recent quarters.
Finally, as far as operating systems are concerned, Android obviously has the lead here. Google’s operating system holds 81.7 percent of the market, down 1 percent year-over-year. iOS, however, holds 17.9 percent, which is up .2 percent compared to the year before.
Read the full report below:


Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Grew 7 Percent in the Fourth Quarter of 2016
Fierce Battle Between Apple and Samsung to Hold the No. 1 Global Smartphone Ranking
Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 432 million units in the fourth quarter of 2016, a 7 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. The fourth quarter of 2016 saw Apple leapfrog past Samsung to secure the No. 1 global smartphone vendor position (see Table 1).
In 2016 overall, smartphone sales to end users totaled nearly 1.5 billion units, an increase of 5 percent from 2015 (see Table 2).
“This is the second consecutive quarter in which Samsung has delivered falling quarterly smartphone sales,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “Samsung’s smartphone sales declined 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 and its share dropped by 2.9 percentage points year on year.”
“Samsung’s smartphone sales started to drop in the third quarter of 2016, and the decision to discontinue the Galaxy Note 7 slowed down sales of its smartphone portfolio in the fourth quarter,” added Mr. Gupta. “The withdrawal of the Galaxy Note 7 left a gap in its large-screen phone range.” Samsung also faced growing competition in the midtier and entry-level smartphone segments from Huawei, Oppo, BBK and Gionee, which all grew their sales each quarter.
Closest Quarter Ever Between Samsung and Apple
It has taken eight quarters for Apple to regain the No. 1 global smartphone vendor ranking, but the positions of the two leaders have never been so close, with only 256,000 units difference. “The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” said Mr. Gupta. “This time it achieved it thanks to strong sales of its flagship phones — the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus; it also benefited from the weakened demand for Samsung’s smartphones in mature markets such as North America and Western Europe, and in some mature markets in Asia such as Australia and South Korea.
Table 1. Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 4Q16 (Thousands of Units)
Vendor
4Q16Units
4Q16 Market Share (%)
4Q15 Units
4Q15 Market Share (%)
Apple
77,038.9
17.9
71,525.9
17.7
Samsung
76,782.6
17.8
83,437.7
20.7
Huawei
40,803.7
9.5
32,116.5
8.0
Oppo
26,704.7
6.2
12,961.5
3.2
BBK Communication Equipment
24,288.2
5.6
11,359.4
2.8
Others
185,921.1
43.1
191,708.4
47.6
Total
431,539.3
100.0
403,109.4
100.0
Source: Gartner (February 2017)
Top Chinese Smartphone Vendors Grew Share by 7 Percentage Points in Fourth Quarter of 2016
Huawei, Oppo and BBK accounted for 21.3 percent of smartphones sold to end users worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2016, an increase of 7.3 percentage points year on year. “Huawei introduced Mate 9 during the quarter — within a month of Samsung discontinuing the Galaxy Note 7 — which was good timing to position it as an alternative,” said Mr. Gupta.
Huawei’s premium smartphone offering has helped it to reduce the gap with Samsung during the fourth quarter of 2016, with a difference of 36 million units. In the same period last year, the gap between the two vendors was more than 50 million units. “Huawei is poised to reduce the gap further with the No. 2 global smartphone vendor,” said Mr. Gupta. “Mate 9 with Alexa will start shipping into the U.S. in the first quarter of 2017.”
Offering high-performance, front-facing cameras and fast charging smartphones led Oppo to maintain the No. 1 positon in China during the fourth quarter of 2016. Its strong position in China and continued growth of sales in the markets outside China have helped Oppo position itself as the No. 4 smartphone vendor worldwide.
BBK’s focus on quality, design and strong branding initiatives has positioned it as a strong mobile phone brand in China and India. BBK continued its hold on the No. 2 position in China and was marginally ahead of Huawei during the fourth quarter of 2016. BBK’s strong performance in India, where its sales grew by 278 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, and more than 363 percent in 2016 overall, allowed it to emerge as the No. 5 smartphone vendor worldwide.
Top Chinese brands such as Oppo, BBK, Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and Lenovo are aggressively expanding into markets outside China, where they will continue to disrupt the top smartphone players in 2017. “Samsung needs to successfully launch the next Galaxy flagship phone in order to continue the momentum Galaxy S7 generated, and win back lost customers by launching a new large screen and stylus-equipped smartphone,” said Mr. Gupta.
Table 2. Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2016 (Thousands of Units)
Vendor
2016 Units
2016 Market Share (%)
2015 Units
2015 Market Share (%)
Samsung
306,446.6
20.5
320,219.7
22.5
Apple
216,064.0
14.4
225,850.6
15.9
Huawei
132,824.9
8.9
104,094.7
7.3
Oppo
85,299.5
5.7
39,489.0
2.8
BBK Communication Equipment
72,408.6
4.8
35,291.3
2.5
Others
682,314.3
45.6
698,955.1
49.1
Total
1,495,358.0
100.0
1,423,900.4
100.0
Source: Gartner (February 2017)
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Google’s Android extended its lead by capturing 82 percent of the total market in the fourth quarter of 2016 (see Table 3). In 2016 overall, Android also grew its market share by 3.2 percentage points to reach an 84.8 percent share, and was the only OS to grow market share year on year. “The entry of Google’s Pixel phone has made the premium Android smartphone offering more competitive, while the re-entry of HMD (Nokia) in the basic (midtier) smartphone category, is set to further increase the competition in emerging markets,” said Mr. Gupta.
Table 3. Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 4Q16 (Thousands of Units)
Operating System
4Q16 Units
4Q16 Market Share (%)
4Q15 Units
4Q15 Market Share (%)
Android
352,669.9
81.7
325,394.4
80.7
iOS
77,038.9
17.9
71,525.9
17.7
Windows
1,092.2
0.3
4,395.0
1.1
BlackBerry
207.9
0.0
906.9
0.2
Other OS
530.4
0.1
887.3
0.2
Total
431,539.3
100.0
403,109.4
100.0

FT : Cisco Systems open to much larger acquisitions

Cisco Systems open to much larger acquisitions
Company seeks to speed up move away from reliance on selling switches and routers

Cisco Systems will consider making much larger strategic acquisitions as it seeks to accelerate the move away from its traditional reliance on selling switches and routers, Chuck Robbins, chief executive, said on Wednesday.

“We’re open to any acquisitions that fuel our strategic growth,” Mr Robbins said in an interview with the FT. Asked if that meant much bigger deals than Cisco had mounted before, he said he was “not ruling anything out”.

Acquisitions have come back on to the agenda at Cisco as Mr Robbins, who took over as chief executive a year and a half ago, has tried to shift its business model towards higher-margin and more consistent software and subscriptions. Last month he announced the networking equipment company’s biggest purchase in five years with the $3.7bn acquisition of AppDynamics, whose software is used by businesses to monitor the performance of their digital applications and services.

Mr Robbins’ comments also reflect a renewed focus on big acquisitions in tech as some of the industry’s biggest players anticipate a change in US tax law that would make it easier to tap large overseas cash hoards. Applying a lower tax rate to repatriated cash is one idea being considered in Washington to encourage companies to invest more in the US.

Cisco had nearly $61bn in foreign cash and investments at the end of last year, out of total liquid reserves of $71bn. However, it has also borrowed heavily against its overseas hoard, leaving its net cash position at $36bn.

If US tax law is relaxed to make it cheaper to repatriate the money, Mr Robbins said the cash would be used to accelerate the company’s strategic transformation, and to reward shareholders. His comments echo those of Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri, who said this week that the iPhone maker would look to return more cash to shareholders if tax rules changed.

The comments highlight a looming divergence between the tech companies and the Trump administration, which has made investment in US manufacturing jobs a priority. Tech executives such as Mr Maestri have pointed out that the supply chain for many electronics products is centred outside the US, making it hard to bring significant manufacturing operations back to the country.

The weight of Cisco’s traditional, hardware-centric business model was evident from its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday. It reported a 2 per cent decline in revenues from the year before as sales of routers and switches fell by 10 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.

However, Mr Robbins also pointed to the latest earnings as evidence that the company’s shift towards more consistent sources of revenue such as software and subscriptions was accelerating.

Revenues from recurring sources — rather than one-off sales — rose to 31 per cent, from 26 per cent six quarters ago, while subscription agreements now account for 10 per cent of product revenues, up from 6 per cent in the same period.

The company’s after-tax profits dropped by 25 per cent in the latest quarter, as price declines and a shift towards a less profitable product mix confirmed Wall Street’s expectations of a downbeat earnings report. Cisco reported revenue of $11.6bn and pro forma earnings per share of 57 cents, compared to the 56 cents analysts had forecast. Based on formal GAAP accounting rules, Cisco’s earnings per share fell by 24 per cent, to 47 cents.

FT : Telcos struggle to define next generation

Telcos struggle to define next generation
Failure to agree a common way forward could jeopardise likely benefits

Consumers may have only recently upgraded to the 4G standard on their mobile handsets, but telecoms carriers are already looking ahead to the next wave of wireless development, known as 5G. Many are openly discussing the possibility of rolling out this updated version commercially by 2019.

The European Commission, keen to keep ahead of the debate, has published a 5G action plan. It estimates that sectors such as healthcare, transport, cars and utilities will see economic benefits of €113bn by 2025 from the technology. Building new 5G networks is expected to cost €56bn and could create about 2.3m jobs.

The telecoms industry is still struggling to define exactly what 5G technology is. The current generation of mobile transmission technology, 4G, has delivered on the promise of turning a mobile phone into a computer. Its predecessor, 3G, offered data services such as video calling. However, it is only since the advent of faster 4G networks that streaming video and live sports to a mobile phone has become a reality. The goal is that 5G should enable better delivery of streaming services and faster download times.

While there is much talk about the need for universal standards for 5G, Europe, the US and South Korea are racing to define the technology in potentially different ways.

Ryan Ding, executive director and president of products and solutions at Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment company, says that 5G “will be the cornerstone of the digital industries, and a global single standard is critical if all things are to be connected”.

But there is a high risk of more fragmentation and some companies fear that failure to agree a common path quickly could jeopardise 5G’s benefits.

Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm Incorporated, warns against regulatory intervention in the standards process. “Predictability means keeping standards as a voluntary process. One thing we have to be very careful about is changing the rules after significant investment has been made in the technology.

“Such changes can cripple industries and create uncertainty that will mean less investment in deployment. Balance and predictability are needed to make the internet of things a reality.”

Mr Aberle adds that the industry must ensure 5G complexity does not overwhelm the development of applications. “We need to make sure the technology is very easy to adopt. If we are not able to make it easy and cheap to adopt, it won’t happen,” he says.


The biggest stumbling block for the industry is perhaps the least obvious. Equipment makers are concerned about which parts of the spectrum band 5G will sit in. Different countries have allocated different portions of the airwaves to carry 5G signals. For a device to work across all of them requires eight antennas, making phones both very heavy and very expensive.

“We talk about avoiding the fragmentation of 5G technology but don’t forget, we have to work to avoid the fragmentation of spectrum,” says Mr Ding.

Mark Keenan, chief executive of advisers Real Wireless, adds: “Many of those applications identified under the 5G vision are highly demanding, with significant spectrum requirements.

“The success of 5G requires legislators and regulators to begin investigating spectrum allocation and sharing principles as soon as possible to help overcome any challenges well in advance of the technology being deployed.


All participants in the 5G chain — hardware makers, carriers and businesses developing software to take advantage of the internet of things — want to speed up the process and have formed numerous standards bodies to deliver on one common goal.

The industry is desperate to learn from history. Rolling out 3G was messy and took 10 years because of competition around standards, whereas 4G deployment, with only two variations were used, took place in half the time.

Companies are also vying to take a lead in the race toward 5G. Telecom Italia in 2015 pushed ahead with tests of a virtual radio access network technology called vRAN that prepares the ground for 5G.

This was the first successful trial in Europe and the carrier has launched the “5G for Italy” plan alongside Ericsson to encourage researchers and companies to test 5G technology.

A global 5G event in Rome last November brought together engineers, European commissioners and standards experts to thrash out a plan. Turin has already begun testing some elements of a 5G network.

The UK telecoms regulator has set a timetable for the launch of 5G services in Britain by 2020, with early trials set to take place as soon as next year.

FT : Nestle 2016 sales growth slowest in two decades

Nestlé has reported its slowest like-for-like sales growth for at least two decades in the first annual results at the Swiss producer of baby milk and KitKat chocolate bars published under new chief executive Mark Schneider.

Mr Schneider promised to this year step up restructuring at the world’s largest food and drinks company after it achieved organic growth of just 3.2 per cent in 2016. That was down from 4.2 per cent in 2015. Last October, Nestlé had predicted 3.5 per cent organic growth.

The pace of expansion was the slowest since at least 1996, according to comparable figures provided by the company. “Our 2016 organic growth was at the high end of the industry but at the lower end of our expectations,” Mr Schneider said.

He added: “In 2017, we expect organic growth between 2 per cent and 4 per cent. In order to drive future profitability, we plan to increase restructuring costs considerably in 2017. As a result, the trading operating profit margin in constant currency is expected to be stable.”

Mr Schneider, who was previously the boss of German healthcare group Fresenius, was appointed chief executive last June but only took charge at Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestlé at the start of this year.

Thursday’s reported slowdown in sales reported highlights the strategic challenges facing the new chief executive.

WSJ : Snapchat Parent Snap Inc. Sets Valuation at $19.5 Billion to $22.2 Billion

Snapchat Parent Snap Inc. Sets Valuation at $19.5 Billion to $22.2 Billion as IPO Approaches
Even at low end of expected range, it would be largest U.S.-listed tech offering since Alibaba Group in 2014

Snap Inc. set a valuation for itself between $19.5 billion and $22.2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, as the disappearing-message app company nears its landmark initial public offering.

The valuation range, which equates to $14 to $16 a share, is near the low end of the $20 billion to $25 billion range the Snapchat parent company had earlier targeted. The company and its underwriters will set a final IPO price based on feedback from investors in a roadshow that is about to begin.

Even at the low end of the expected valuation range, it would be the largest U.S.-listed tech offering since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s IPO in 2014, according to Dealogic.

Last year was the slowest for U.S.-listed tech IPOs since 2009 in terms of the number of deals and dollar volume, according to Dealogic, and the Snap offering will be closely watched for signs of a revival.

But some investors have questioned whether Snap is worth the valuation it is seeking. They cite slowing growth in its daily average user base, which recently stood at 158 million; increasing competition from Facebook Inc.; and the limited control new shareholders would have.

Snap will market the offering to mutual funds and hedge funds in meetings Monday in London, according to the people. After that, the meetings, which are typically held in hotel ballrooms, will move to New York and other cities. The shares could be priced as soon as March 1 and begin trading the following day on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “SNAP.”

Snap is expected to disclose the preliminary valuation in an update to its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as Thursday.