Kantar: Galaxy S7 among Top 5 smartphone sales in Q1 US market

Much has been said of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, be it in reviews, in advertisements, in the media, or even in fiscal reporting. The latest news has arrived via Kantar WorldPanel, which found that the two siblings earned a respectable 5.8% of Q1 2016 smartphone sales, an impressive accomplishment given that the pair of products released on March 11th, with less than 3 weeks remaining in said fiscal period.

The report, written by Mobile Analyst Lauren Guenveur, indicates that the Galaxy S7 was “the fifth best-selling phone in Q116” and perhaps even more significantly, that “the same cannot be said of its predecessor, the Galaxy S6, which was the 10th best-selling smartphone (3.2%), after its launch in the three months ending in April 2015.”

Purchasing patterns

While it’s easy to assume what may have contributed to the success of these handsets – battery life for example – Kantar has statistics to offer. The findings may be surprising to some:

Among Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge buyers who purchased the devices in March, the leading purchase driver was battery life, with 53.5% citing it as the main driver of handset choice. The battery on the S7 is larger than on previous iterations (though according to some- battery life is not significantly improved), and ships with fast and wireless charging (50% of the battery life in 30 minutes). This is the first Samsung device to do so, though this feature was available as an accessory for earlier models.

Quality of the camera was also an important driver for S7 buyers—specifically, for 50.9% of them versus 33.5% of overall smartphone buyers for the period. S7 buyers also prioritized storage capacity on the phone, at 36.5% versus 17.8% among all buyers, and processor speed at 39.8% versus 23.9% of all buyers.

Perhaps the most interesting data, however, relates to that of price-related issues:

38.8% of Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge buyers were influenced by an exclusive phone promotion or offer, 12.2% by a free or discounted product, 11% by a trade-in scheme, and 10.3% by free or discounted accessories.

Based on this report, it would thus seem that a majority of customers were swayed by (1) a larger battery, (2) a better camera, and (3) the ability to get the device as part of some kind of perk/offer.

MicroSD

Curiously, one of the most widely criticized aspects of the Galaxy S6 –a lack of microSD support – is not specifically mentioned in factoring into the decision to buy the S7 variants – which do include it. It’s possible the data is part of the storage-related figures, but even then, 36.5% is not a majority. It’s also possible that microSD support – as a standalone feature – wasn’t examined. Whatever the case may be however, despite all the Samsung-bashing from last year, the now-restored support seemingly was not as important among early adopters as one might seemingly expect.

Wrap Up

Given the limited amount of time the S7 and S7 Edge were available in Q1 2016, it can be expected that Q2 will see even more impressive performance result. Presumably the phone(s) will skyrocket to the top of the charts, but that could change given the release of the LG G5 and HTC 10, which will also be factored into the period.

What do you think about the results and data contained in this study? Do you fit into the same breakdown or were there other factors that influenced your decision? Drop a line in the comments section down below!