With the end of the third quarter of 2020, research companies are starting to share their reports about the three-month periods that start in July and end in September. So far, we can see a great consensus about Q3 2020, it was marked by a slow recovery in the smartphone segment. The handset business suffered a great impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in Q1 and Q2. It was caused by the disruption in the supply chain and also by the lockdown policies in some countries. During Q3 2020 the biggest part of the market resumed its operation which allowed customers to resume their smartphone purchases. Of course in a year plagued by the pandemic, customers aren’t prioritizing smartphones over essential goodies and this also impacted the segment. According to IDC, Xiaomi now has entered the top 3 of worldwide smartphone companies dethroning Apple. To our surprise, Huawei keeps its second position despite all the restrictions imposed by the US ban, but it is falling.
According to IDC Analysts, the market witnessed strong volumes between July and September in emerging markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia. According to the research director at IDC, Nabila Popal, there was some pent-up demand for smartphones.
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However, the biggest slice of this margin came from heavy promotions and special discounts. Moreover, the current situation of remote work and distance learning booster the demand for low-end smartphones in India. This move is since there are good low-end devices that are much cheaper than tablets. This expanded the segment and added pressure on companies. Now, the low-end segment is much more competitive than in the past years.
Realme was the fastest company to cross the 50 million shipments mark
Meanwhile, another research company, Counterpoint states that Realme crossed the 50 million shipments mark faster than any other company. The reason? The company quickly expanded its 5G portfolio in China. In fact, the company currently has some of the cheapest 5G smartphones in China like the V5. The company crossed the 50 million shipments mark in just 9 months.
Not everything was perfect as important markets like China, Europe, and North America experienced major declines in the last quarter. Worth noting that something very unusual happened this year. Apple moved its iPhone release to Q4 2020, which also helped to bring the Q3 numbers down in all these developed markets.
Can Xiaomi keep its position in Q4 2020, Or will Apple recover its place with the iPhone 12 series?
Samsung keeps its lead with a hefty increase in sales. Huawei kept its place in second but dipped over 20%. With this decline, it’s hard to not expect a drop to the third position in Q4 2020. Unless that the Huawei Mate 40 series proves to be a huge success. In Q4 2020 Apple may see a comeback with the new iPhone 12 series, but Xiaomi will not give up too easily.
