Apple has bested Samsung as the number one global smartphone maker, but only by a razor-thin margin.
A new Gartner report this week showed that Apple now has 17.9% of the total smartphone market compared with Samsung’s 17.8% market share. In the fourth quarter, Apple sold 77 million iPhones while Samsung sold 76.8 million of its lineup of smartphones, the report said.
It’s a bit of a milestone for Apple, which has been second to Samsung in terms of smartphones for eight consecutive quarters.
“The last time Apple was in the leading position was in the fourth quarter of 2014, when its sales were driven by its first ever large-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta in a statement.