Samsung is now the second largest smartphone brand in the UK, according to a new study carried out by the research firm Counterpoint. Apple, despite experiencing a decline in its sales sequentially, is still the top smartphone brand in the country. Apple had a 34 percent share in the UK smartphone market in Q3, 2017. Huawei, Alcatel, and Motorola are also among the top five largest smartphones brands in the UK as per the results of the Counterpoint’s research.

The overall mobile phone market (including feature phones) in the UK in Q3 2017 declined by eight percent (year on year), the Financial Times reported. Of all the mobile phones sold in the third quarter, 93 percent were smartphones.

The Apple iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy 8 were the top two bestselling smartphones in the UK in the third quarter of 2017. The Apple iPhone 7 topped the smartphone market with 15 percent market share.

“The Chinese giant Huawei was the third largest brand, with consistent double-digit market share, leveraging a diverse portfolio across all price-tiers, but still some distance behind Samsung and Apple that represent something approaching a virtual duopoly,” said Parv Sharma, Research Associate at Counterpoint Research.

In total, top five smartphone brands accounted for about 80 percent of the smartphone sales in Q3.

Samsung Annual Charity Gala 2017 [Image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

The fierce competition between Apple and Samsung for the top smartphone vendor spot worldwide is nothing new. Currently, Samsung is the largest smartphone brand globally. According to research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung had a 21 percent global market share in Q3, 2017, compared to Apple’s 12 percent share. Samsung shipped nearly 83.4 million smartphones globally in Q3, 2017—an 11 percent rise annually from 75.3 million units shipped in the third quarter last year. The growth for the South Korean tech giant was driven by the strong demand for A, J, and S series smartphones, specifically in India and Latin American.

In comparison, Apple shipped approximately 46.7 million smartphones worldwide during the same period. However, Apple was able to regain the top spot in the US smartphone market. Apple sold nearly 12 million iPhones in the US in the third quarter of this year, versus Samsung’s 9.9 million phones. The boost in sales enabled Apple to capture a 30.4 percent US market share versus 25.1 percent market share for the South Korean tech giant in the US. Experts believe this tug-of-war between the two companies will get fiercer in coming months, although Apple is likely to maintain its lead over Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2017.

[Featured Image by Ilya S. Savenok/Stringer/Getty Images]