The Australian mobile phone market declined according to a recent report by IDC. The third quarter of 2016 accumulated shipping was 2.06 million phones, which was 8.2% fewer than the 2.2 million shipped in the same period last year. However, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was still flying the flag of market share growth having launched the iPhone 7, which went on sale on 16 September.

But IDC Australia market analyst Bilal Javed is skeptical about the new turn of events despite Apple’s achievement. He says, “As the market matures, incremental innovation will not be enough to drive positive results, as consumers believe the added features do not warrant an upgrade, especially in the high-priced segment.”

Analysis of the open market share

Various vendors presented different figures. Apparently, even Samsung, which has the second-highest Smartphone market share in Australia, was hit by a 6.9% drop; from 32.89% to 26.1%.  Oppo’s share was down 4.36% year on year and 2.75% quarter on quarter. However, there are those who had an increase in their market share.

Apart from Apple, Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE:ALU) followed closely with a year on year increase of 1.9% and 0.66% quarter on quarter. With its 5.17% market share, ZTE had a 1.64% quarter on quarter growth, while Huawei, whose market share was at 4.92% showed a quarter on quarter increase of 1.64%. According to Michael Tran, Oppo Australia’s CMO consumers prefer low- to mid-tier phones. Others are looking for those that do not have handset repayment costs. IDC’s prediction is that the market for refurbished smartphones will grow at 22.3% as a result of trade-in programs.

But Apple still needs to put its act together

While Apple may have had the last laugh with its iPhone 7, something is not right about its iPhone 6S. The batteries on some models are failing, but the company is willing to replace them given that the issue involves “a slight number” of the devices. Samsung was also caught up in the wave of replacement following the discontinued sale of its Galaxy Note 7, which was reported to have overheating batteries.

Apple’s stock closed at $111.73 witnessing an increase of $1.67 or 1.52%.