In December 2016, the Samsung Galaxy J1 smartphone took 1st place in Russia in terms of smartphone sales in units , and the iPhone 5s with 16 GB memory, which had previously occupied it for at least several months, moved to second. This follows from materials from the company, a partner of several retailers; they were confirmed by a source close to the company, a partner of several retailers. These data coincide with the estimates of M.video . From the materials reviewed by Vedomosti, it follows that in December the Galaxy J1 (this model on average retails for just under 7,000 rubles) occupied 5% of the Russian smartphone market in units. The iPhone 5s (costs about 20,000 rubles) has about 4.6% of the market. In November 2016, the market shares of these devices were 4.6 and 5.5%.

According to the company, a partner of several retailers, in December 2016, just over 3.45 million smartphones were sold in Russia.

The iPhone 5s, which debuted in Russia back in the fall of 2013, was the best-selling smartphone in Russia for almost the entire 2016, cell phone market participants previously told Vedomosti. The popularity of this model, in particular, explained the fact that at the end of 2016, Apple was in 2nd place in Russia in terms of smartphone sales in units: it occupied 11.1% of the market for these devices (+3.5 p.p. year to year). Throughout 2016, with the exception of August and, in fact, December, the iPhone 5s was indeed the best-selling smartphone in Russia, says M.video representative Valeria Andreeva. She explains the first place of the Galaxy J1 with additional marketing promotions that retailers could carry out in December 2016.

Leading analyst at Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin also explains the increase in demand for the Galaxy J1 with pre-New Year promotions. At the same time, the iPhone 5s is a fairly old model that costs more; most of those who wanted to buy it have already done so, he believes.

Galaxy J1 has good technical characteristics that make it convenient for downloading and watching video content, says MTS representative Dmitry Solodovnikov. There is noticeable active demand for this device, he claims.

Samsung Galaxy J1 outperformed the iPhone 5s in VimpelCom showrooms in December, confirms VimpelCom representative Anna Aibasheva - at that time the operator and the manufacturer were running a joint promotion.

Representatives for Samsung and Apple declined to comment.

In December 2016, the Samsung Galaxy J1 smartphone became the best-selling smartphone in Russia