Huawei’s smartphone sales skyrocket while Samsung and Apple’s slump

Huawei is now the world’s second-largest phone maker, and it has the top spot in its sights

The Chinese smartphone– Huawei is converging closer to Samsung in terms of smartphone market share. In Q1 2019, Huawei managed to rake 19.0% market share just after Samsung’s 23.1%. Apple remained at 3rd place with 11.7% market share witnessing -30.2% decline in YoY basis.

Huawei moved its way into a clear number two spot as the only smartphone vendor at the top of the market that saw volumes grow during 1Q19. Impressively, the company had year-over-year growth of 50.3% in 1Q19 with volumes of 59.1 million units and a 19.0% market share. Huawei is now within striking distance of Samsung at the top of the global market. In China, Huawei continued its positive momentum with a well-rounded portfolio targeting all segments from low to high. Huawei’s high-end models continued to create a strong affiliation for the mid to low-end models, which are supporting the company’s overall shipment performance.

Overall smartphone shipments in Q1 2019 reduced to 310.8 million against 332.7 million units in Q1 2018. Amid the slump in global smartphone shipments, only a couple of manufacturers recorded growth – Huawei reported 50.3% growth, whereas Vivo summarized 24% growth on YoY basis. On the other hand, Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi and Oppo shipped -8.1%, -30.2%, -10.2% and -6% fewer smartphones in comparison with the Q1 2018.

Continuous improvements and innovations led to Huawei’s ascent in the past few months. Huawei P30 and P30 Pro’s huge demand derived the growth in the high-end market. Whereas its domestic adaptability in China further scaled sales leading to 7.0 points increase in the previous quarter. In-house equipment is also leading to increased sales due to affordable and optimized devices.

Resources:
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https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/05/01/idc-huawei-inching-closer-to-samsung-with-50-yoy-growth-in-q1-2019-shipments/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/huawei-ahead-of-apple-in-q1-2019-smartphone-shipments.html
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