Q4 2016 smartphone market – Apple rubs salt in Samsung’s wounds

The Q4 2016 global smartphone shipment numbers are in and it comes as no surprise to see that Samsung’s loss was Apple’s gain.
The fruity gadget giant managed to shift 78.3 million iPhones over the holiday season, a new record for its quarterly shipments and the first time it has shipped more than Samsung for years (see table). The overall market also experienced relatively healthy growth, thanks in part to renewed vigour from China.
Apple was typically modest and understated about i