Apple Inc last month had the highest share in the nation’s mobile phone market in terms of sales volume and value after launching its latest iPhone models, industry sources said yesterday.
Although the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus went on sale on Sept. 22, strong buying vaulted Apple into the top position in the sales volume rankings after placing second in August, the sources said.
In terms of sales volume, Apple took a 26.1 percent share, up from 14.4 percent in August, finishing ahead of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, which had a 21.1 percent share.
They were followed by Taiwan-based PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) with a 12.6 percent share, China’s Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) with 8.2 percent and Japan’s Sony Corp with 7.5 percent, the sources said.
Oppo and Asustek, which have intensified efforts to penetrate the smartphone market with its ZenFone series, saw their positions unchanged.
Sony vaulted past Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp (宏達電) into fifth place, they added.
HTC’s sales volume fell to 7.2 percent from 10.6 percent in August.
A total of 587,000 mobile phones were sold in Taiwan during the month, down 0.33 percent from a month earlier.
In terms of sales value, Apple grabbed a 52.7 percent share, up from 36.4 percent in August to remain No. 1 due to the high prices of its new models, the sources said.
Samsung came in second with a 21.7 percent share, ahead of Sony’s 6.1 percent, Oppo’s 5.5 percent, Asustek’s 5.2 percent and HTC’s 4 percent, the sources said.
The premium iPhone X is scheduled to go on sale early next month and could further boost Apple’s sales and market share, they added.
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