Smartphone sales plummeted worldwide in the first quarter of 2020, according to market researcher Gartner. Huawei saw their numbers plummet, closely followed by Samsung.
On average, smartphone manufacturers saw their sales drop by 20 percent. Apple managed to cope better than its competitors with a sales drop of just over 8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019. Huawei, however, lost some 27 percent of sales, while Samsung lost almost 23 percent. The latter, despite declining sales, still remains in the first place when it comes to market share, according to Gartner.
The significant drop in sales at smartphone manufacturer Huawei is not only the result of the corona crisis, but the restrictions imposed by the United States also play a role. U.S. software (including Google’s Android) may no longer be used without explicit permission, which negatively affected Huawei. Things will certainly not get any easier for the Chinese company in the second half of 2020, as popular Google apps such as the Google Play Store will remain out of reach for Huawei.
The only manufacturer that saw an upward trend in sales in the first quarter (compared to the first quarter of 2019) was the Chinese company Xiaomi. With sales growth of just under 1.5 percent, the company overtook OPPO to improve its market position. Xiaomi’s market share is just under 10 percent, almost 1.5 percent more than OPPO.