A year ago today, Strategy Analytics reported that Huawei had finally overtaken Apple to become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor. Twelve months later, Apple has failed to gain any ground, as the latest quarterly analysis from the firm shows both Samsung and Huawei increased their smartphone shipments year-over-year, while iPhone sales dropped more substantially than any of the other major firms in the market.
Taking a step back, it’s worth noting that global smartphone shipments are down year-over-year once again, having dropped from 350.4 million in Q2 2018 to 341.4 million in Q2 2019. That’s a notable dip, but still slightly less severe than the one the industry suffered last year when shipments fell by 10 million.
“Apple iPhone shipped 38.0 million units to capture 11 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q2 2019, dipping from 12 percent marketshare a year ago,” said Strategy Analytics director Woody Oh. “Apple iPhone shipments fell 8 percent annually, making it the worst performer among the world’s big-five smartphone players. Apple is stabilizing in China due to price adjustments and buoyant trade-ins, but other major markets such as India and Europe remain challenging for the expensive iPhone.”
Meanwhile, Samsung recovered in a major way as the South Korean company shipped 76.3 million smartphones in the second quarter, jumping 7% from the same quarter last year. Profit margin declined, but Samsung’s market share now sits at an impressive 22.3% — more than double Apple’s global share.
Huawei continued to cement itself in second place as it shipped 8% more than it did in Q2 2018, capturing 17% of the global market. With a 20 million shipment lead over Apple, it will be fascinating to see if the Cupertino company can make up any ground with the launch of its new iPhone models in September.
