This year, the smartphone industry is starting to squirm. Based on Canalys data, in the third quarter of this year (July to September 2019), the number of smartphone shipments globally was recorded at 352.4 million units. This figure increased by 1 percent compared to the same period last year, with shipments of 348.9 million units.
5 of the world’s largest smartphone brands (Q3 2019):
Samsung
Quoting GSMArena, Samsung accounts for the largest portion of the overall smartphone shipment. The South Korean manufacturer tops the list with global smartphone shipments reaching 78.9 million units with a market share of 22.4 percent.
This figure increased by 11 percent when compared with the same period last year, i.e the shipment rate of 71.3 million units and 20.4 percent market share. Samsung continues to show positive growth because it likes to cram the market with their latest smartphones, especially with the Galaxy A series as a replacement for the Galaxy J. series. Not to forget, Samsung’s passionate performance is also driven by the presence of a variety of 5G capable smartphones from Samsung, such as the Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy Note 10 5G, to the Galaxy A90 5G.
Huawei
Moving away from Samsung, Huawei is the second-largest global smartphone brand to ship with 66.8 million units and a 19 percent market share. Although plagued by various issues, such as blocking by the US, the Chinese manufacturer actually recorded a growth of 29 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
Apple, Xiaomi, and OPPO
Then, under Huawei, there are Apple, Xiaomi, and OPPO, each of which gained a market share of 12.3 percent, 9.2 percent and 9.1 percent respectively. The total shipment of the three smartphone vendors was recorded at 43.5 million, 32.5 million, and 32 million units. Of the five vendors above, Canalys noted Apple as the company with the biggest decline in smartphone shipments. According to Canalys researchers, this is caused by innovations on the iPhone that are not so significant, such as the absence of models that have adopted 5G. Unlike Apple, Xiaomi and OPPO have launched at least one 5G smartphone to consumers, such as the Mi 9 Pro 5G and OPPO Reno 5G.
