In our review of Samsung’s new Galaxy Note Edge smartphone last month, we spent a good amount of time discussing the trouble Samsung is currently facing. While the company is still pulling in billions in revenue each month, there is no question that Samsung is in trouble. One need only look at its most recent earnings report for evidence that is impossible to argue with: In the third quarter this year, Samsung’s net profit plummeted 60%.
Now, as expected, Samsung is showing a significant decline in another key measure of success for smartphone makers: Handset shipments.
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According to the latest numbers issued by market research firm Gartner, Samsung’s third-quarter smartphone channel sales saw a substantial decline while every other top smartphone company enjoyed growth.
Gartner’s numbers show Samsung’s Q3 shipments coming in at 73.2 million units this year, down from 80.4 million in the same quarter last year while Samsung was still enjoying its meteoric rise. Gartner also shows that Samsung’s global market share declined to 24.4% last quarter from 32.1% in the third quarter last year.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s top rival Apple saw third-quarter smartphone sales climb to 38.2 million units from 30.3 million in Q3 2013, thanks in no small part to the 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets Apple sold during the devices’ debut weekend.
Huawei’s shipments grew to 15.9 million units last quarter according to Gartner, and shipments of Xiaomi phones exploded from 3.6 million units in Q3 2013 to 15.8 million last quarter. In the No. 5 spot, Lenovo’s smartphone shipments climbed to 15 million units in Q3 from 12.9 million in the year-ago quarter.
