Apple’s new iPhone SE.Global smartphone sales fell 20% in the second quarter of 2020, according to Gartner. So Samsung and Huawei are almost tied at the top of global smartphone sales. The evolution is very different for brands in this period of pandemic. Huawei, and especially Apple, are holding up well, while Samsung and Xiaomi are diving!
Among the top five smartphone producers, Samsung saw the largest decline in sales, while Apple’s were virtually flat year over year. While Huawei also saw sales decline year-on-year, it saw 27.4% quarter-on-quarter growth, putting it virtually tied with Samsung at the top of the Gartner ranking.
Huawei surprises once again!
This position of Huawei is all the more surprising given that the Chinese giant still has to face the wrath of the United States. However, these numbers are part of the explanation. Huwei is so strong and his products seem to meet certain expectations so much that they seem to annoy the most across the Atlantic. This might explain that…
Almost all major markets except China have experienced negative momentum related to COVID-19, which has resulted in continued decline in demand for smartphones. “The improving situation in China has allowed demand to recover quarter after quarter,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner.
Samsung hardest hit
Samsung sold nearly 55 million units in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of 27.1% from the previous year. “The COVID-19 pandemic continued to negatively affect Samsung’s performance during the second quarter of 2020. Demand for its flagship product, the S-series smartphones, has done little to boost its sales of smartphones globally” , says Gupta.
“Huawei’s performance in China allowed it to avoid a worse quarterly performance. Huawei has developed its lead with 42.6% of the local smartphone market in the second quarter of 2020 ”, specifies Mr. Gupta. Huawei has implemented an aggressive sales policy in China, in particular to sell 5G smartphones, according to Gartner.
Evocative figures
Finally, “Apple’s iPhone sales held up better during the quarter than most of its competitors in the market and also increased quarter over quarter,” according to Annette Zimmermann, vice president of the research at Gartner. Finally, in fourth position ahead of Oppo, Xiaomi fell 21.5% year over year to 26 million units.
My comment? In this fragile environment, these numbers probably show that the more aggressive brands with models close to demand, like the new iPhone SE, are doing better. As for Huawei, once again we realize how much its domestic market supports its development …
XS
| Mark |
Q2 2020 |
Market shares % |
Q2 2019 |
Market shares % |
Evo. |
| Samsung | 54,759.4 | 18.6 | 75,111.8 | 20.3 | -27.1 |
| Huawei | 54,125.0 | 18.4 | 58,055.7 | 15.7 | -6.8 |
| Apple | 38,386.1 | 13.0 | 38,522.9 | 10.4 | -0.4 |
| Xiaomi | 26,095.2 | 8.9 | 33,250.7 | 9.0 | -21.5 |
| OPPO | 23,612.1 | 8.0 | 28,070.2 | 7.6 | -15.9 |
| Other | 97,692.1 | 33.2 | 137,282.5 | 37.1 | -28.8 |
| Total | 294,669.9 | 100.0 | 370,293.9 | 100.0 | -20.4 |
