South Korean tech giant Samsung sales dropped by 6% in the last quarter of the year. Not only Samsung but other smartphone sales around the world fell drastically in the third quarter of the year.
According to data firm IDC (International Data Corporation), smartphones manufacturers shipped about 355.2 million units last quarter which resulted in a decline of 6%. Samsung smartphones have been shipped up to 13.4%, and it accounts up to 20.3% of the global phone market.
The main reason behind it is because China represents a third of total smartphone sales. The level of shipments went down in the country for the sixth consecutive quarter. It resulted in a cut down of 11% in the first half of 2018. The report stated the share market leader is facing tremendous pressure from different directions especially from Huawei, which was trying to make it to the top after its second consecutive quarter. Other Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, are growing their markets share in India and Indonesia.
There are other endless reasons behind this slowdown due to high prices of phones, slowing down of the economy, and increasing trade tariffs. Apart from Samsung, other brands are also facing their decline in sales like LG, but Apple remains constant in their sales.
“Many markets have already hit a saturation point for new smartphone demand and are dependent on replacement demand, buying a more expensive device results in extending the length of replacement cycles, especially when your earnings are limited.”
– Tom Kang, Counterpoint Research Director
Huawei smartphones had soared by 32.9% in the third quarter to beat its competitor, Apple with a revenue of 52 million and a market share of 14.6 %. Apple is the second largest smartphone brand in the world. In comparison to Samsung, their market share was 20.3%. Apples iPhone shipment was up to 0.5% year on year to 46.7 million.
As for Xiaomi and Oppo, the two brands maintained their sales of 34.3 million and 29.9 million with their market shares of 9.7% and 8.4% respectively. Xiaomi sales increased up to 21.2% year on year due to the growing market in Spain, India, and Indonesia. Whereas Oppo shipments had decreased to 2.1% from a year back after moving its focus on building newer devices apart from smartphones.
In comparison to Apple and Huawei, the two brands are in a cutthroat competition over iPhone XR and Mate 20 Pro. The companies have worked extremely hard to stay ahead of the competition and to maintain their sales. Both of these smartphones received positive reviews from the users globally.
Other phone brands, i.e., Oppo, and Samsung, suffered a considerable drop in their revenues probably due to high prices of their phones or the lack of economy in the host country. The two companies will try their best to keep it steady with their revenues.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Amnah Fawad
Muhammad Nouman Sarwar
