Global smartphone shipments fell for the third consecutive quarter in April to June, declining 1.8 percent to 342.0 million units compared to the 348.2 million units shipped a year earlier, according to the latest report from IDC. The fall was only the fourth quarterly decline in history, attributed to churn in some highly penetrated markets, although the report said many high growth markets still exist and should return smartphone shipments to overall growth.
In terms of vendors, Huawei overtook Apple during the quarter to become the second largest smartphone company in terms of market share. Huawei shipped a total of 54.2 million units during the quarter, giving it a record high market share of 15.8 percent, up from 11.0 percent last year, ahead of Apple’s 41.3 million smartphone shipments for a 12.1 percent share, up from 11.8 percent a year earlier but the first time since the second quarter of 2010 that Apple has been out of the top two in terms of market share.
Huawei’s rise was driven by its sales in China, where it led the market with a record-high share of 27.0 percent in the second quarter. The report added that Huawei's P20 and P20 Pro series found strong demand in the USD 600 to USD 800 price segment in the first half of the quarter and the company successfully moved into markets where, until recently, it was largely unknown. However, Apple is expected to move back into the top two next quarter with the expected launch of three next generations of iPhone models.
Samsung remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market despite a 10.4 percent decline in shipments from last year to 71.5 million for a 20.9 percent share. The flagship S9 and S9+ devices, which launched late in the first quarter, witnessed slower than normal sales due to intensified competition at the high end and an overall sluggish market, according to Samsung itself. However, the company will look to bolster sales in the coming weeks with the launch of the new Galaxy Note 9 with a bigger battery, new S-Pen capabilities and increased performance.
Xiaomi and Oppo rounded out the top five with sales of 31.9 million and 29.4 million for market shares of 9.3 percent and 8.6 percent respectively. Xiaomi pulled ahead of Samsung for the number 1 position in India over the past few quarters and has now closed the gap with Samsung in Indonesia. Oppo, meanwhile, faced a slowdown in key markets like India and most of Southeast Asia as it eased back on its aggressive marketing and sales activities in the region. However, the company still managed to grow 5.1 percent over last year as it continued its expansion into other markets such as the Middle East & Africa.
