The smartphone market has been on the decline for the past five consecutive quarters but in the third quarter the market broke the streak on the back of strong Huawei shipments during the period, according to new research from IHS Markit.
Global shipments of smartphones reached 360.1 million units in the third quarter of 2019, up 1.2% from 355.8 million in the same period last year.
Huawei was the standout in the third quarter with shipments growing by 14.8 million units to reach 66.8 million about a 28% increase year-over-year.
“Huawei’s volume increase was driven by strong demand from the domestic Chinese market,” said Jusy Hong, research and analysis director for IHS Markit. “Company smartphone shipments in China increased by 65% in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis. Huawei’s strong home-field performance more than compensated for its overseas sales, which fell due to U.S. sanctions.”
Huawei’s smartphone shipments have grown to 184.6 million units in the first three quarters of the year exceeding the combined total volume of smartphone brands ranked seventh or lower. However, U.S. sanctions may have an impact on future sales, IHS Markit said.
“As U.S. sanctions continue, Huawei is prohibited from including Google Mobile Services on new smartphones going forward,” Hong said. “The launch of the Mate 30 series was the first sign of Huawei devices without Google services. Huawei will face increasing difficulties in some markets if its new smartphone models cannot include Google services.”
Samsung was able to hold on to the top spot globally, shipping 78.0 million units in the third quarter, an increase of 10% over the same period last year. Samsung did this on the back of expanding its mid-range and low-end devices being rolled out to compete with Chinese brands in the Asian region.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone shipments declined 2.1% during the third quarter to 45.9 million units shipped. Apple’s unit decline has happened for four consecutive quarters. This may change in the fourth quarter due to entry-level pricing for the iPhone 11 at less than $700, a $150 price reduction of existing models, IHS Markit said.
