The Galaxy S8 launch has been exciting to watch and also interesting to compare to Apple’s recent launches. Our recent mobile data report, Mobile Overview Report (MOVR), found that the Apple iPhone 6S is the most used smartphone in the world and that the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the most used Samsung in the world in Q1 2017.
In an effort to track the successes of both model launches, we have identified the top U.S. smartphone models by market share percentage to track the overall gains of each launch and we have found something rather surprising. While Samsung devices by model type garners less market share individually than Apple phones, there is less market share gain required for Samsung Galaxy S8 to surpass the S7 (2.48% needed) than the iPhone 7 needs to surpass the iPhone 6S (2.58% needed). However, things don’t look great for the iPhone 7 as more time has passed since our last report (finding that the iPhone 6S is the most popular smartphone in the world) despite the iPhone 7 launch and may only become more challenging to surpass over time.
So where does the Samsung Galaxy S8 stand?
But it’s not all good news for Samsung. As of May 31st, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is ranking 43rd with 0.38% market share in the U.S. compared to 3rd place for the Apple iPhone 7. However, in order for the Galaxy S8 to surpass it predecessor, it needs to beat the 7th place spot to surpass the Galaxy S7, that’s a 36 place difference. It’s important to note though, that less time has passed from the launch of Samsung Galaxy S8 compared to the Apple iPhone 7, a difference of 217 days. While the Samsung Galaxy S8 may never unseat Apple from the throne of global smartphone dominance, it may very well reach a strong foothold or surpass the Samsung Galaxy S7 in rankings and market share. It is also important to note that our data was only collected from the U.S. and may not accurately reflect global data trends.
Tl;dr version
It’s going to take some time for Samsung Galaxy S8 to make the top places in U.S. smartphone market share, but things are looking good in terms of gaining share on the Galaxy S7. And Apple’s iPhone 7 still has not surpassed the iPhone 6S.
