In terms of global shipments, iPhone was the world’s most popular smartphone last year. This research comes from the firm IHS Markit who established that the iPhone 6s took the top spot in terms of most-shipped smartphone, followed by the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and the iPhone 6 plus. This information was based on IHS Markit’s Smartphone Shipment Database, something that tracks quarterly shipment data for over 350 smartphone models.
In the fifth spot was Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge, followed by the less expensive Galaxy J3 and a few other Samsung models. The recalled Galaxy S7 was not included in the lineup, due to several safety concerns last year involving defective batteries that led to fires. Considering the fact that Apple’s products were not released until six months after Samsung’s in March 2016, the company’s lead is impressive. However, it was not determined exactly how many shipments were made of each model but it is estimated that the iPhone 6s reached somewhere around 60 million while the Galaxy S7 edge and J3 stood at 25 million. These are estimated figures that do not directly reflect sales. The only smartphone to make the list that was not manufactured by Apple or Samsung was Oppo’s A53, a device popular with Chinese and Indian markets. Huawei, the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer, did not make the list at all.
This is not the first time that the iPhone 6s has been declared the world’s most-shipped smartphone. If data by Strategy Analytics and now IHS Markit are correct, from the second quarter of 2016 up until the end of last year, this phone remained the most popular.