Market analysts released the first figures on the smartphone market in the first quarter of 2020 which turns out to be the worst quarter in the history of the industry. What reinforce fears of a new market crisis.
While Huawei has consolidated its position of strength in the Chinese market, also in crisis, during the first quarter of 2020, things look bad for all manufacturers globally.
Market research firm Strategy Analytics has released a report on global smartphone sales from January to March 2020.
According to this study, the industry sold 275 million units worldwide, a 17% drop in sales compared to the same quarter last year (330.4 million units sold) as you can see in the infographics below.
Fall In Sales: Apple Never Falls Too Far From The Tree
Market leader Samsung sold around 58.3 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 71.8 million in 2019 over the same period (Q1 2020). A 19% drop and Samsung’s lowest sales in eight years, analysts said.
Huawei is twice as affected worldwide. In addition to the ongoing litigation in the United States and the resulting compulsory abandonment of Google services, the crisis is causing losses.
According to the report, Huawei sold around 48.5 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2020, down 18% from the 59.1 million cellphones sold in the same quarter last year.
A decline predicted by Huawei which, despite all this, remains in second place in the world in terms of sales volume and market share, ahead of Apple and behind Samsung.
Impressive results that the Chinese giant owes in large part to its domination of the Chinese market. At the bottom of the manufacturers’ podium, Apple also recorded a drop in sales.
However, Cuppertino still keeps his head above water: while the Californian company sold about 43.1 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2019, the figures are down 9%, or 39.2 million d ‘units sold in Q1 2020.
At the same time, Apple’s market share increased from 14.3% to 13%. If Apple therefore limits the breakage, Xiaomi on the other hand comes out of this crisis grown up.
The manufacturer reached 10% market share in Q1 2020, against 8.3% last year in the same period. What consolidate its new high-end dynamics started with the Mi 10 Pro.
Xiaomi sold as many smartphones in the first quarter of 2020 as in 2019 over the same period, i.e. around 27.5 million units. At least it doesn’t move. But the future of the industry remains uncertain.
What is certain is that most manufacturers can once again count on the majority of their suppliers and therefore on a resumption of their production chains, interrupted at the height of the confinement linked to Covid-19.
However, investments in luxury goods are expected to decrease significantly in 2020 and in most markets. What to put a serious stop to flagship sales?
