According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 363.2 million smartphones worldwide in the third quarter of 2016, growing from 5.2% compared to the 345.5 million units that were shipped in the second quarter of 2016.
2016 saw Android dominating the market with 86.8% shares. South Korean-based smartphone makers, Samsung Electronics took the led as the global leadership despite the Galaxy Note 7 recall which was one of the biggest product safety failures in tech history
Samsung retained the first position in the worldwide smartphone market thanks to the continued success of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices. Meanwhile, Cupertino-based tech firm, Apple Inc’s unit shipments declined by 5.3% from the third quarter of 2015.
According to reports, despite the decline, the iPhone 6S continued to be its bestselling device in the Q3, followed by its newest device, the iPhone 7.
Leaving statistics behind, we list a few of the smartphones predecessors that made in 2016:
Galaxy S7 Edge
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge was clearly the best smartphone in 2016 and still today, with the industry’s leading specs, refined design, and capabilities that had bloggers, gadget reviewers, tech enthusiasts almost awarding it a perfect 10 in device reviews. It won the Best Smartphone at the 2016 GSMA Awards – the award, combined an outstanding performance, innovation and leadership, as determined through assessment of smartphones on the market during 2016, by world leading analysts.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge had extremely fast cameras that take incredible photos and video which gave it a chance to be nominated in the Best Camera Phone at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards 2016, though Huawei’s P9 phablet emerged as winner of the award.
Awesome specs such as responsive fingerprint scanners, water resistance without the fuss of ports, elegant refined design with the use of metal and glass, had it Galaxy Fans vote it as the Best Phone of Year during the 2016 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, because of its beauty – a device with curved edges, a splendid design and premium mobile computing capabilities.
successor: Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Edge
Huawei P9
When we are to look at the Huawei P9 phablet we shall definitely have to talk about it dual-lens Leica camera setup is without doubt its most interesting feature which was success, that had it selling in the 2016 – a year it was. According to Huawei the dual sensor also means the P9 was the first phone in the world that will be able to capture a professional Bokeh effect. Many tech-reviewers have accredited the phone’s camera with the least review being 8/10.
In 2016 saw every flagship having major camera developments, from OIS in both cameras on the HTC 10 to the hybrid autofocus on the Xperia X, and finally to the dual lens ones on the Huawei P9 and LG G5, and so forth.
Huawei’s P9 success in 2016 gave it several accolades; won the Camera Phone of the Year at the 2016 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, taking down the likes of Galaxy S7, HTC 10, LG G5, Sony Xperia X. In addition, also won Best Dual Lens Smartphone at the TeknoTel 2016 Awards that were held in Dubai.
The phablet was also nominated among the Phone of Year at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards 2016, Galaxy S7 Edge emerging winner.
successor: Huawei P10
iPhone 7 Plus
An iPhone 7/Plus is surely a smartphone that at least everyone would want to own. Launched in September 7th, last year at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and made available in stores a week at the announcement, sales on its first weekend saw all colors of the iPhone 7 Plus having been sold out along with the Jet Black version of the iPhone 7.
The iPhone 7’s overall design is similar to the iPhone 6S, but was introduced in new color variants, water and dust resistance, a new capacitive, static home key, and got rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack, making it the first iPhone to come without the jack. However, nany reviewers highlighted the controversial lack of a 3.5 mm headphone jack, with reactions ranging from user-hostile and stupid. In addition, the device’s internal hardware received major upgrades, including a heterogeneous quad-core system-on-chip with improved system and graphics performance, and upgraded 12MP rear-facing camera.
successor: iPhone 8
LG G5
According to online reports, like most Android flagships launched in 2016, LG G5 sports the highest end processor and internal specs. You will also continue to find an IR transmitter, in addition to a removable battery and microSD card slot.
LG has continued to chase the South Korean giants; Samsung in the Android space so in 2016 they went outside the box with a focus on modularity, according to ZDNet, and we have yet to see many uses for such modularity so the success of the LG G5 remains to be seen.
LG G5 continues LG’s success in the camera space with another unique take on the camera with a wide-angle lens allowing to take some great shots. LG G5 was also nominated in the Phone of the Year and Best Camera Phone at the 2016 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, where the Galaxy S7 Edge and Huawei P9 emerged winners respectively.
successor: LG G6[related-posts]
