Find out the winners and the losers in the latest global smartphone sales figures

The latest global smartphone figures have uncovered some interesting brand movements, including Apple’s sharpest ever sales decline and a year on year overall market increase of 3.9 per cent.

According to research company Gartner, there were more than 349 million handset sales in the first quarter of 2016 with smartphones making up 78 per cent of total mobile sales.

But the news wasn’t good for Apple which saw its first double digit decline year on year with iPhone sales down 14 per cent.

Samsung increased its lead over second-placed Apple with 23 per cent market share which Apple slipping from 17.9 per cent in Q1 2015 to 14.8 per cent in Q1 2016.

And it was Chinese brands that were the winners.

Two Chinese brands – Huawei and Oppo – ranked in the top five worldwide smartphone vendors with a combined market share of 11 per cent a year ago.

In 2016, there are now three Chinese brands in the top five – Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi – and they now make up 17 per cent of the market.

In the operating system market, Android increased its market footprint in Q1 2016 to 84.1 per cent – up from 78.8 per cent in 2015.

But devices running Windows for mobile also took a dive from 2.5 per cent in 2015 to 0.7 per cent in 2016.

“Despite the Android platform’s advancements and its dominant market share, the challenges of profitability remain for a number of Android players,” says Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.

“This will have an impact on the vendor landscape where new or more innovative business models will increasingly become key to succeed.”