Global sales of smartphones to end users declined 20.2% in the first quarter of 2020, according to Gartner.
The global shelter-in-place combined with the economic uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic led to demand for smartphones collapsing as consumers stopped spending on nonessential products during the first quarter.
“The coronavirus pandemic caused the global smartphone market to experience its worst decline ever,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner. “Most of the leading Chinese manufacturers and Apple were severely impacted by the temporary closures of their factories in China and reduced consumer spending due to the global shelter-in-place.”
Samsung, Huawei and Oppo Recorded Worst Performances of Top Five Smartphone Vendors
All of the top five smartphone vendors recorded a decline in the first quarter of 2020, except for Xiaomi. Strong sales of Redmi devices in international markets and aggressive online channel focus led Xiaomi to achieve better than expected sales. Although Samsung’s smartphone sales declined 22.7% in the first quarter of 2020, the company still maintained the No. 1 spot with 18.5% market share.
Huawei recorded the worst performance among the top five global smartphone vendors in the first quarter of 2020. Sales of smartphones fell to 42.5 million units, a decline of 27.3% year over year. Even with its first ever decline in smartphone sales, Huawei held on to the No. 2 position with 14.2% market share.
“Huawei will have a challenging year,” said Mr. Gupta. “It has developed the Huawei Mobile Service (HMS) ecosystem, but with the lack of popular Google apps and Google Play store, Huawei is unlikely to attract new smartphone buyers in international markets.”
