When the mighty Nokia fell, Samsung was there to pick up the pieces. The company spent years and billions gaining the consumer’s trust, and by extension, the lion’s share of the market. By sheer numbers, Samsung has been the market leader in the smartphones segment for years on end, and while its share has dropped in recent times, Samsung hasn’t yet been dethroned.
However, the curious case of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 was expected to be a big blow to the South Korean manufacturer. We all thought so, and we all may have been wrong. Turns out, the number of people still using the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is still more than the combined user-base of the HTC 10 Evo, OnePlus 3T and LG V20. This, after Samsung has actively been telling users to return their Note 7s for safety purposes.
The information comes from research firm Apteligent, which claims Samsung’s numbers are ahead of the LG V20 and OnePlus3T, and marginally behind the Moto Z smartphone. In fact, the firm says Samsung owns 38% of the share amongst its top 10 Android devices by usage.
To be fair, these numbers don’t really paint the full picture. The OnePlus 3T was launched literally a few weeks ago, while the LG V20 and HTC 10 Evo have been quite exclusive, even overseas, and they were both announced in India just recently. Hence, each of these devices should overtake the Galaxy Note 7 very soon. The fact that major US carriers are readying to push an update to the Note 7, which bars the device from charging, should be the final nail in the device’s coffin.
Many have speculated on the future of Samsung following the Note 7 debacle. The company had made headway with its recent Edge displays, but the Note 7 is expected to have caused harm to its brand name. Reports have said that Samsung had to push its timeline for the Galaxy S8, and the company is expected to launch the device on MWC 2017.