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Smartphone sales are up, but not because of the phones you think

Samsung has reclaimed the top spot, but it's Huawei, Oppo and Vivo that have really spurred growth.

Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Headshot of Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt VP, Content Operations and Commerce, CNET Group and CNET Labs
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
Expertise Content strategy | Team leadership | Commerce | Audience engagement | Tips and FAQs | iPhone | Samsung | Android | iOS
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Samsung, maker of the Galaxy S8, started off 2017 strong.

Josh Miller/CNET

is back on top.

Even before the went on sale, the Korean electronics giant took back its place as the No. 1 smartphone maker, ahead of , according to IDC's quarterly report on smartphone market share. Samsung dominated the charts at 22.8 percent.

That was despite the disastrous setback of its worldwide Galaxy Note 7 recall, which saw the company pull roughly 3 million premium off the market. Cheaper Galaxy S7 phones, and affordable J- and A-series handsets sold well, which helped stop the gap.

Yet, what's even more interesting is that global smartphone shipments are up across the board (4.3 percent in the first quarter), and it wasn't because of Samsung.

Growth came from , and Vivo, IDC found, three Chinese phonemakers that take the third, fourth, and fifth spots as vendors, behind Samsung and Apple. Oppo and Vivo are lesser known outside of Asia and together account for 12.6 percent global market share. Huawei, whose high-end, dual-camera is CNET's favorite Huawei phone ever made, had almost 10 percent of global sales after the first quarter of the year.

Apple, meanwhile, took 14.9 percent of the pie.