Apple regains world smartphone lead
January 30, 2020
According to research from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments held steady at zero growth to reach 375 million units in the fourth quarter of 2019. Apple grabbed first position with 19 per cent global smartphone marketshare, Samsung claimed second position, while Huawei dipped to 15 per cent share in third place. Full-year smartphone shipments totalled 1.4 billion units in 2019.
Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew zero percent annually from 376 million units in Q4 2018 to 374.5 million in Q4 2019. Worldwide smartphone demand remains mixed for now, with sharp declines in China balanced by strong growth across India and Africa. Full-year smartphone shipments hit 1.41 billion in 2019, dipping 1 per cent from 1.43 billion in 2018, due to mild inventory build in the second half of the year. Looking ahead, US trade wars and the China coronavirus scare will be among barriers to growth for smartphones in 2020.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added: “Apple iPhone shipments rose 7 per cent annually from 65.9 million units worldwide in Q4 2018 to 70.7 million in Q4 2019. This was Apple’s best growth performance since 2015. Apple’s global smartphone marketshare has lifted from 18 per cent to 19 percent in the past year. Apple is recovering, due to cheaper iPhone 11 pricing and healthier demand in Asia and North America. Samsung shipped 68.8 million smartphones worldwide in Q4 2019, dipping 1 percent annually from 69.3 million in Q4 2018. Samsung’s global marketshare stayed flat at 18 per cent, the same level as a year ago. Samsung continues to perform relatively well across all price-bands, from the entry level to premium models such as Galaxy Note 10+ 5G. On a full-year basis, Samsung remains number one with 21 per cent marketshare in 2019.”