Top 10 Global Popular Phones and User Preferences, Q3 2016

Recently, Antutu released a report entitled Top 10 Popular Smartphones Around the World, in which we listed the most popular smartphones around the world, such as in China, America, Russia, Germany and India. Apart from device model, do users have any other special preferences when purchasing smartphones? Prefer big screen or small screen? Like quad-core CPU or eight-core CPU? Let’s have a look at Antutu user preference report of Q3 2016.

Period of data statistics: from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2016

Data source: Antutu Benchmark

Data model: Android smartphone

Antutu Top 10 Popular Smartphones in the World, Q3 2016

From the statistical data of Antutu backstage, we can see that Samsung smartphones were still popular with consumers during the third quarter, especially the two flagship series of Note and S. However, Samsung Note 7 didn’t appear on the list due to the explosion and recall event, which will also have an impact on sales of Samsung in the last quarter of 2016.

Apart from Samsung smartphones, some Chinese smartphones were also very popular, such as Redmi Note 3, LeEco 2 and Meizu note 3. Obviously, in addition to brand and model, cost performance is also a key consideration for mobile phone users worldwide.

Popular Smartphone Screen Resolution , Q 3 2016

With regard to smartphone screen resolution, 1080P(1920×1080 px) display dominated the market, while the market shares of 2K display (2560×1440 px) and 720P(720×1280 px) display showed a decline. In fact, compared with 2K display and 720p display, 1080P display is more favored by users for its better balance among screen smoothness, power consumption and cost. Although 2K display costs more, the progress made in its actual display effect is not obvious compared with 1080P, thus its market share will probably decline in the future.

Popular Smartphone Screen Sizess, Q3 2016

As for screen size, Android devices have already stepped into the big screen era. Data from Antutu backstage showed that the market share of 5.5-inch screen was nearly 50%. Users are more used to the better entertainment experience brought by big screen, which offers broader view and more convenient touch control.

Meanwhile, the market share of small screen with the size of less than 5 inches is declining. However, there is still no lack of small screen smartphones in the smartphone market in the third quarter. The size ceiling of small screen smartphone has reached 5 inches. Large screen smartphones with the size of over 5 inches will become mainstream smartphones in the market.

Popular Smartphone Processors , Q3 2016

In the aspect of smartphone processor, the market was basically shared by the four chip giants Qualcomm, Samsung, MTK and Hisilicon in Q3. Since Qualcomm Sanpdragon 821 didn’t hit the market until the end of September, Snapdragon 820 still owned the biggest market share and has been favored by many mobile phone manufacturers for its strong performance in Q3.

At the same time, along with the hot sales of Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6 edge and Note 5, the market share of Samsung Exynos series of processors is also rising. Honor 8 and Honor V8 continued to gain ground, and successfully raised the market share of Hisilicon processors. In addition, most of the middle-end smartphones adopted Snapdragon 652 processor, which had great impact on the middle-end market of Mediatek , reducing its whole market share.

Popular Smartphone Multi-core CPUs, Q3 2016

With regard to the number of cores, octa-core CPU has become mainstream configuration in the mobile phone market. Currently, many public processor architectures adopted octa-core design, such as Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, Snapdragon 616, Snapdragon 617, Kirin 950 and Samsung Exynos 7420, therefore the market share of octa-core CPU is very high. Besides, the market share of quad-core CPU is also high due to the selling of many flagship models powered by Snapdragon 820(quad-core).

Popular SmartPhone RAM, Q3 2016

With regard to smartphone RAM, mainstream RAM was 3GB in the third quarter, accounting for nearly half of the whole market share.When users and manufacturers paying more attention to user experience, Smartphones with large RAM will certainly be a better choice for them. Besides, many high-end flagship smartphones have raised their RAM to 6GB, increasing the market share of 6GB RAM.

It is not difficult to predict that 4GB RAM will replace 3GB RAM and become the mainstream RAM configuration in Android market, while 2GB RAM will vanish from the long river of history.

Popular Smartphone ROM, Q3 2016

With the capacity of smartphone RAM increasing, the capacity of ROM is also expanding. From backstage data of Antutu, 16GB ROM has become a preferred choice for consumers with market share of over 50%. However, since many manufacturers has increased their smartphone ROM to 32GB, the market share of 32GB ROM is also increasing, and may become the mainstream configuration in future market. Besides, smartphones with ROM of 128GB or lager are increasing over time.

Popular Smartphone Rear Camera Resolution, Q3 2016

In terms of rear camera resolution, 13MP is the first choice for consumers, accounting for one third of the whole market share. In fact, different from the configuration of smartphone RAM, rear camera resolution is not the only factor that determines the photographing experience of a phone. Although the photographing experience of smartphone is improving every year, what will be the next mainstream in the future market is hard to tell. Besides, dual rear camera smartphones are increasing their presence in Android smartphone market. With Apple being the pioneer, dual camera will be a future direction.

Popular Smartphone Battery Capacity, Q3 2016

Facing the hardware excess of Android smartphones, many manufacturers choose to increase battery capacity to ensure better battery life experience. From Antutu backstage data, we can see that battery capacity of 3000-3500mAh is a preferred option for users, accounting for market share of over 40%. Actually, since 5.5-inch large screen smartphones dominated the market, 3000mAh battery also becomes necessary and common. Besides, the market share of 4000Ah battery is also higher than 30%. Lager capacity battery will sure to be more favored by users.

Summary

From the above data, it is not hard to conclude that Samsung is a preferred brand for many users in terms of brand selection, especially the two high end series of Samsung Galaxy Note and S. It’s undeniable that high end models have great advantages over other models in terms of comprehensive using experience, durability and design, which make them popular with consumers regardless of their relatively high prices. In addition to brand, cost performance is also a key factor that determines the market performance of a model. Cost effective models are always more popular with smartphone users.

As for preferred configuration, generally, mobile phones with such configuration as 5.5 inch screen, 1080P resolution, eight-core processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB ROM, 13MP main camera and 3000-3500mAh battery capacity are top choice for consumers. In simple terms, users usually don’t pursue the biggest or the strongest hardware configuration, they just seek suitable configuration that can satisfy their daily needs.