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Global smartphone market takes a 20% dive in Q2 of 2020

Smartphones took a backseat to the pandemic.

Att smartphone being used by person fcc
Image: Unsplash

Gartner, one of the world’s leading research and business advisory companies, recently released a report about global smartphone market sales in Q2 of 2020.

Their main conclusion is that the smartphone market took a big dive in the second quarter as worldwide sales drop by 20%. However, if we compare the five biggest smartphone vendors, some brands were hit harder than others by the current pandemic.

The biggest loser

Samsung galaxy s20

Image: Samsung

Samsung, which was the top dog for many years, at least in terms of sales, experienced the biggest decline. In Q2, Samsung sold only 55 million devices – a decline of 27%. 

Global smartphone sales globally have been declining year after year, even without a pandemic in the picture. But no other company saw such a massive decline in sales as Samsung. If this trend continues, they will soon be dethroned by Huawei. 

Samsung introduced its new flagship, the Galaxy S20 earlier this year, yet it didn’t influence their sales. According to Anshul Gupta, director at Gartner, the demand for flagship smartphones worldwide was too small to influence the number of smartphone sales.

The winners

Iphone with ios on table

Image: Unsplash

Huawei also saw a decline in sales, year-over-year. Their sales dropped by 6.8%, but at the same time, on a quarterly basis, their sales grew by an incredible 27%. During Q2 they shipped 55.8 million units. For comparison, Samsung shipped just 53.7 million units in Q2 of 2020. 

Furthermore, mainly because of their 5G smartphones, Huawei saw a massive expansion in China. As a result, they hold over 42% of the Chinese market. 

Out of the big five, Apple also had a pretty solid second quarter. Their sales, year-over-year, are down by 0.4%, but in Q2 iPhone sales were up. Their lower-priced iPhone SE had a massive impact on the company’s sales, especially in China. 

What to expect in Q3?

The Chinese market is expected to be even more influential in global smartphone sales. That’s mainly because the Chinese economy is recovering from the pandemic at a good pace and no restrictions are expected. 

At the same time, there is certain unrest about the other markets and whether the coronavirus pandemic will lead to further restrictions. Among the biggest five countries in the world, India experienced the biggest plunge in smartphone sales (-46%).

Much, if not all, of it comes down to how countries handle the coronavirus pandemic individually and whether they will enforce new restrictions or not. The extent of those restrictions will determine the course of smartphone sales in the near future and that’s an inevitable fact.

What do you think? Surprised at these results or does this make sense to you? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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