The smartphones sales globally to end users has returned to growth and has increased by 1.3% in the first quarter of 2018, to 455 million units sold, from the same period in 2017, Gartner Inc said in a statement.

Nearly, 384 million smartphones were sold, representing 84% of the total mobile phones sold in the first quarter, the New York-listed research and advisory company said.

"Demand for premium and high-end smartphones continued to suffer due to marginal incremental benefits during upgrade," Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner said.

Continued weakness in the Chinese mobile phone market also limited growth potential for top global brands such as Samsung and Apple, and also Chinese brands such as OPPO and Vivo, with over 70% of their sales coming from China, Gartner said.

Apple’s smartphone sales returned to growth in the first quarter with a rise of 4% year-on-year, while Samsung’s mid-tier smartphones faced competition from its Chinese counterparts, which led to the fall in sales on an annual basis.

“Even though demand for Apple's iPhone X exceeded that of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the vendor struggled to drive significant smartphone replacements, which led to slower-than-expected growth in the first quarter of 2018," the company said in a statement.

According to Gartner, Samsung’s sale will be under pressure through 2018, as the Chinese brands are gaining dominance in Europe and Latin America markets.

The Chinese smartphone makers Huawei and Xiaomi, however have gained higher positions in the global market with 18.3% and 124% growth in the first quarter, respectively.

"Huawei's attempt to grow its premium smartphone portfolio with its recent launches of the P20, P20 Pro and Honor 10 helps raise its competitiveness and growth potential," Gupta said.

The future growth of these brands, increasingly depends on the emerging Asia-Pacific and resolving issues in the US market, through the development of a stronger consumer brand, the Gartner said.

First Published:May 29, 2018 5:18 PM IST