According to the latest research from our Smartphone Model Tracker (SMT) service, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge was the world’s top-selling Android smartphone model in the first half of 2016. Samsung currently accounts for the three top-selling Android smartphone models shipped worldwide.

Global Android smartphone shipments grew 5 percent annually from 552.2 million units in H1 2015 to 577.3 million in H1 2016. The Android smartphone category is outgrowing Apple iOS, whose global smartphone shipments fell 16 percent annually from 108.7 million in H1 2015 to 91.6 million in H1 2016.

We estimate the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge model shipped 13.3 million units and accounted for 2 percent share of all Android smartphones shipped worldwide in H1 2016. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 edge is currently the world’s most popular Android smartphone. The S7 edge is wildly popular in dozens of countries globally, due to its attractive curved hardware design blended with a sidebar of apps that consumers find easy to use.

The Samsung Galaxy J2 shipped 13.0 million units worldwide for second position in the Android category during H1 2016, followed by Samsung Galaxy S7 in third place with 11.8 million units. Samsung remains dominant and it currently accounts for the three most popular Android smartphone models worldwide. However, Samsung cannot rest on its laurels, because it continues to be chased hard by emerging rivals, such as the Huawei P9, OPPO R9 and Vivo X7 devices.


Exhibit 1: Global Android Smartphone Shipments by Top-Three Models in H1 2016  [1]