Gartner has released a report for worldwide sales of smartphones to end users in 2018. The numbers behind this report are more interesting as you can get a clear picture of the trend in the world mobile market. With growth of just 0.1 percent, the global smartphones sales did not show any growth in 2018 year over year. Android has always been open source, allowing it to be accessible by a wide range of manufacturers. Which results in a greater number of Android devices being created, shipped, and purchased every year. Samsung has remained at the top with 19.0% market share and continues to lead the competition with the most number of devices sold. However, Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO smartphone vendors have seen consistent growth and grew market share in 2018.
High end smartphones from Apple and Samsung struggle to drive growth
While the demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones remained strong across markets, the demand for high-end smartphones continued to slow in the fourth quarter of 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2018, Apple sold almost 64.5 million iPhones, which represents a decline of 11.8 percent compared to fourth quarter of 2017. When compared to the sales numbers of top five smartphone vendors globally, the double digit decline experienced by Apple represents the biggest drop in the market. Except for North America and Asia/Pacific, the demand for Apple’s iPhone weakened in most regions. At the high end, Samsung’s smartphones sales declined by 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018., as smartphones such as the Galaxy S9, S9+ and Note9 struggled to drive growth in the fourth quarter of 2018.
| Vendor | 4Q18 Units | 4Q18 Market Share (%) | 4Q17 Units | 4Q17 Market Share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung | 70.8 M | 17.3 | 74.0 M | 18.2 |
| Apple | 64.5 M | 15.8 | 73.2 M | 17.9 |
| Huawei | 60.4 M | 14.8 | 43.9 M | 10.8 |
| OPPO | 31.6 M | 7.7 | 25.7 M | 6.3 |
| Xiaomi | 27.8 M | 6.8 | 28.2 M | 6.9 |
| Others | 153.2 M | 37.5 | 162.9 M | 39.9 |
| Total | 408.4 M | 100 | 407.8 M | 100 |
Apple is still at the top when it comes to making money as it accounts to 93% of profits made from all smartphones sold. Samsung has also started to follow the same pricing strategy by offering smartphones at very high price points. Apple and Samsung lost most of the market share in greater China. As buyers wait for more innovative smartphones, Apple and Samsung also have to deal with buyers delaying upgrades while facing compelling high-price and mid-range smartphone alternatives from Chinese vendors.
Huawei sees strong growth during 2018
| Vendor | 2018 Units | 2018 Market Share (%) | 2017 Units | 2017 Market Share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung | 295.0 M | 19 | 321.2 M | 20.9 |
| Apple | 209.0 M | 13.4 | 214.9 M | 14 |
| Huawei | 202.9 M | 13 | 150.5 M | 9.8 |
| Xiaomi | 122.3 M | 7.9 | 88.9 M | 5.8 |
| OPPO | 118.8 M | 7.6 | 112.1 M | 7.3 |
| Others | 607.0 M | 39 | 648.8 M | 42.2 |
| Total | 1.56 B | 100 | 1.54 B | 100 |
Huawei achieved the strongest growth among the top five smartphone vendors as it sold over 60 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2018. “Beyond its strongholds of China and Europe, Huawei continued to increase its investment in Asia/Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East, to drive further growth,” said Mr. Gupta, Senior Research Director at Gartner. In emerging markets, Huawei expanded the Honor series smartphones in second half of 2018, which allowed the market share to grow to 13.0 percent in 2018.
The slow growth observed by Apple and Samsung can be explained by the slowing incremental innovation at the high end, coupled with price increases, which deterred replacement decisions for high-end smartphones. The appeal of high-end smartphones translates directly to demand in mature markets. This is the reason why we see companies like Samsung and Huawei introduce Foldable smartphones with radically new design.
Source: Gartner
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav