The smartphone market is not stable presently and we probably know why. With the pandemic situation declining in some regions, the smartphone market is picking up again. According to a market research firm, Strategy Analytics, the total shipments of smartphones this year will be 1.26 billion, a decrease of 11% from last year. However, this is better than the 15.6% decline predicted earlier this year. The smartphone shipment for the first half of the year was smaller than expected due to the pandemic.
“The outbreak and spread of the coronavirus hit the global smartphone market mainly on all continents,” Linda Sui, an analyst at the research institute, wrote in the report. “All major OEMs will experience a tough market and reduce smartphone shipments this year”.
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Strategy Analytics said that Samsung Electronics will ship 265 million mobile phones this year. With this figure, it will maintain a leading position with a 21% market share. Apple will ship 192 million units, with a 15.3% share. Huawei, the second-largest mobile phone supplier last year and will fall to third place because of the huge uncertainty faced by the US ban. Huawei is expected to ship 190 million units in 2020, occupying a 15.1% market share.
In addition, according to Strategy Analytics, when Huawei runs out of its chipset inventory in 2021, the company’s market share may plummet to 4.3%. According to the report, other Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo will benefit from Huawei’s sharp decline next year. With the support of new technologies such as 5G and foldable displays and the recovery of the global economy, the overall mobile phone market may rebound.
Samsung is doing well in small markets
South Korea manufacturing giant, Samsung, seems to be sweeping through smaller smartphone markets. According to the report, Samsung led in 33 of the 45 smaller smartphone markets in Q2 2020. Among these markets, the South East Asian (SEA) nations of Indonesia and Thailand took the top two positions. Most markets in the SEA subregion grew sequentially despite COVID-19 casting its shadow in Q2 2020 .