Apple doesn't even need to have a new phone on the market to affect sales from its competitors.
A report from TrendForce published on Tuesday says that buzz around the iPhone 8 is already negatively affecting pre-orders for Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.
"Samsung has also released its flagship device for the year Galaxy S8 this second quarter," TrendForce said. "However, the high-end model is expected to make limited sales contribution because the buzz surrounding the next-generation iPhone devices is dampening demand for products from non-Apple
TrendForce said it expects Samsung to post flat growth as a result.
On Monday, however, Samsung said that preorders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are already outpacing early orders for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7+, which were launched before Samsung's ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 last summer.
The company said its Galaxy S8+ is clearly the more popular model among early buyers in the United States. The Galaxy S8 may be an early success, but TrendForce doesn't see how Samsung can maintain that momentum with the iPhone 8 looming.
"The market demand going into the second quarter is expected to remain relatively weak as consumers are holding off their purchases in anticipation of the 10th anniversary iPhone devices that will arrive in the third quarter," TrendForce said.
"Smartphone sales will be fairly lackluster until the second half of this year. TrendForce estimates that the global smartphone production volume for this second quarter will register a modest single-digit growth versus the preceding three-month period."
TrendForce still ranks Samsung as the world's top smartphone brand by market share, with a 26.1 percent slice of the pie, followed by Apple with 16.9 percent of the global smartphone market. Huawei, Oppo, BBK/Vivo and LG round out the top six makers by market share.