SMARTPHONE MARKET SHARE: HUAWEI LARGELY AHEAD OF APPLE AND MORE FAR AWAY FROM SAMSUNG ON Q1 2019

According to IDC, Huawei saw its sales increase by 50.3% in the first quarter of 2019. The Chinese giant dominates Apple and is getting closer to Samsung.

For the second time in less than a year, Huawei becomes the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, ahead of Apple. According to IDC, the Chinese firm sold 59.1 million devices in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 39.3 million in Q1 2018, representing a market share of 19%. At the same time, Apple saw its sales plummet, from 52.2 million to 36.4 million, a decrease of 30.2%, for a market share of 11.7%. The arrival of the new iPhone XS, XR and XS Max will not have been enough to stem the decline in sales. The balance of power seems to be turning to Huawei’s advantage. 

Huawei’s highest growth 

The Chinese manufacturer also offers the strongest growth in a year, more than 50% while its podium competitors record declines, -8.1% on the Samsung side, -30.2% for Apple. Samsung still leads the rankings with 23.1% market share, but its sales are also down with 71.9 million units sold, against 78.2 million in Q1 2018. To curb this situation, the Korean manufacturer has recently reviewed the nomenclature of its smartphones and launched many devices in entry and mid-range – we will see in the coming months if that is enough. We also note the slack of Xiaomi, which sees sales down 10.2% despite the arrival on the European market. 

More generally, the smartphone market is in the red with sales down 6.6% year on year according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). ” Smartphone manufacturers sold a total of 310.8 million units in 1Q19, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of decline .”