The third quarter of the year is traditionally when Apple introduces its new iPhone generation, usually in September, although last year, we saw the all-new iPhone X start shipping in early November, well into the fourth quarter. Even so, Q3 typically marks the beginning of an upgrade cycle for Apple. As we saw in September, also this time there were three new iPhone models announced, the flagships Xs Max and Xs, as well as a somewhat lower-priced model called the XR. The latter started shipping in October and is expected to become Apple’s best-selling model in Q4.
In its home market of the United States, the new models have usually rocketed to the top of the list of best-selling smartphones, or close to the top, anyway. Last year in Q3, the iPhone 7 / 7 Plus managed to beat the iPhone 8 / 8 Plus as the best-selling smartphone in the US. So, how was it in Q3’18? As it turns out, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics’ Smartphone Model Tracker (SMT) service, the iPhone 8 / 8 Plus indeed managed to beat the Xs Max, which again pushed the limits of Apple’s smartphone pricing while helping to improve the overall iPhone ASP across all models.
But Q3 was not all about Apple, as Samsung also launched its plus-sized flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 9. The Note 9 performed very strongly in the US market, out-shipping both the S9 and the S9+, although all three devices were in the top-10. Also in the top-10 were two popular mid-range devices from Samsung, proving that Samsung is strong also in the mid-range in a very competitive market dominated by high-end devices.
Canada is somewhat different story, since the carrier pricing makes the very latest flagship devices much more expensive to have than in the US. We’ve noted earlier how the iPhone 7 and 6s have been strong performers in Canada in the past few quarters. But, in Q3’18, the balance has shifted in favor of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
Interested in the shipments, market share, wholesale pricing, and specs of the top-50 best-selling smartphones in the United States and Canada? Clients of our SMT service can get these, and many other types of data here.