News: Markets
4 May 2020
Smartphone shipments fall 17% year-on-year in Q1/2020 to 275 million
Global smartphone shipments fell 17% year-on-year from 330.4 million units in first-quarter 2019 to 275 million units in first-quarter 2020 (the smartphone industry’s worst ever quarterly performance), according to a report from the Strategy Analytics Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service.
“Demand for smartphones slammed to a halt in the quarter, as the Covid-19 virus scare shut down major economies like China and shoppers placed their spending plans on hold,” says Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics.
Samsung maintained first position with 21% global smartphone marketshare, Huawei held steady in second at 18%, while Apple nudged up to 14% share in third place.
“Samsung shipped 58.3 million smartphones worldwide in Q1/2020, slumping 19% annually from 71.8 million units in Q1/2019… Samsung’s lowest quarterly smartphone shipments for eight years,” notes executive director Neil Mawston. “Despite a strong lineup of A, S and Note series models, Samsung was unable to escape the virus-led plunge in smartphone demand. However, market share fell only slightly from 21.7% to 21.2%.
Huawei’s smartphones shipments slipped by 18% from 59.1 million in Q1/2029 to 48.5 million in Q1/2020. Despite US-China trade wars and the Covid-19 virus, Huawei’s global smartphone marketshare fell only slightly, from 17.9% to 17.6%. China remains Huawei’s core region, accounting for most of its sales.
“Apple iPhone shipments fell a better-than-expected 9% annually from 43.1 million units in Q1/2019 to 39.2 million in Q1/2020,” notes director Woody Oh. Apple’s global smartphone marketshare has risen from 13% to 14.3%. “Apple’s new iPhone SE model, with lower pricing and larger presence in emerging markets like India, will give volumes a further bump in the coming months,” he adds.
Xiaomi maintained fourth place but, with shipments remaining level at 27.5 million units, it rose from 8.3% global smartphone marketshare a year ago to a record 10% in Q1/2020. “Xiaomi is dominating the huge India market at the moment and this is giving the company a big boost in smartphone shipments,” notes director Linda Sui.
OPPO maintained fifth position, as global smartphone marketshare rose slightly from 7.7% a year ago to 8.2%, despite shipments falling by 11% from 25.4 to 22.6 million units. “OPPO continues to expand into Western Europe and elsewhere, with high-profile models like the Reno 3 5G,” continues Sui. “However, OPPO has stepped back somewhat from the US smartphone market in recent months, and that region remains a key gap in its portfolio strategy.”
