Samsung leads the smartphone market again, leaves Apple behind

Something interesting happened in the last quarter of 2014: Apple tied with Samsung on smartphone shipments. Both players moved 74.5 million units, reaching this figure from two opposite directions. The Cupertino, Calif.-based vendor saw its iPhone shipments increase by a whopping 46.07 percent year-over-year, while its South Korean rival dealt with a 13.37 percent decline.

But, luckily for Samsung, things changed in the first quarter of 2015. According to Strategy Analytics, its smartphone shipments reached 83.2 million units, while Apple's iPhones shipped in just 61.2 million units. And just like that, Samsung is, once again, back at the top. However, it is not yet in tip-top form.

Samsung's shipments actually decreased year-over-year, falling by 6.5 percent from 89 million units in Q1 2014. Its current market share is 24.1 percent, again lower than a year ago when it claimed a more comfortable 31.2 percent of the smartphone market. Sequentially, shipments are up, as Q4 2014 was, alongside Q2 of last year, its weakest of 2014.

Strategy Analytics notes that Samsung experienced some issues in "Asia and elsewhere, but its global performance has stabilized sufficiently well". The new Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 edge, could help Samsung's numbers in the following quarter, as its flagships are currently in high-demand in markets across the globe.

That said, Samsung's still seeing the effect of Apple's flagships, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which continue to sell in droves six months after their release. According to Strategy Analytics, "Apple’s new iPhone 6 portfolio is flying off the shelves in China and the United States, its two biggest markets". In fact, the former is Apple's biggest market now.

Year-over-year, iPhone shipments increased by 40.04 percent, rising from 43.7 million units. Apple's market share in Q1 2015 reached 17.7 percent, higher than the 15.3 percent captured a year ago. It is slightly smaller sequentially, but still higher than in any of the first three quarters of last year. In Q4 2014, Apple's market share was 19.6 percent.

In third place is Lenovo, combined with Motorola. Its shipments reached 18.8 million units in the first quarter of 2015, deceasing by 4.5 percent year-over-year from 19.7 million units (at the time, however, Motorola wasn't under Lenovo's leadership, so it is not exactly an accurate representation of the duo's performance).

Market share is just 5.4 percent, lower than the 6.9 percent a year ago. Its performance decrease sequentially, as in Q4 2014 the duo moved 24.7 million units and claimed 6.5 percent of the market. Strategy Analytics blames pressure in China faced by Lenovo and Motorola's inability to capitalize on its success in the North American and India markets, for the duo's weak results.

Total smartphone shipments for the first quarter of 2015 are said to be 345 million units, 21.05 percent higher year-over-year. In Q1 2014, smartphone shipments reached 285 million units, increasing by 33.2 percent year-over-year compared to Q1 2013. Year-over-year growth is obviously slowing down.

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