Smartphone market 2019: third quarter results

Global smartphone shipments grew by 1%, the first growth after a two-year decline.

On the smartphone market 2019, the third quarter results arrive from Canalys. A series of market stimuli in line with demand have allowed global growth of 1%, the first growth after two years of declines. Samsung shipped 78.9 million devices, an 11% increase over the third quarter of 2018, thanks to an implementation of new products that have regained market share lost in the past. The Galaxy A series has replaced the old Galaxy J family and the price / specification ratio has improved. In the high end, the increase in models resulted in a success with the Galaxy Note 10 family which sold more than 5% more than Note 9.

Huawei has increased its sales to 66.8 million, up 29%. An extraordinary increase after the damage caused by the US Entity List ruling in the second quarter of this year. Its strength was supported by the market in China, but it also improved its fortunes in many foreign markets where the volume increased sequentially from 21.5 million in the second quarter to 25.3 million in the third quarter, as numerous distributors and Operators have resumed purchases of Huawei smartphones that had been stopped in Q2. In the 2019 smartphone market, the third quarter instead recorded a -7% for Apple compared to the same period of 2018. iPhone 11 got excellent reviews.

It has tangible improvements on battery life and camera performance, in addition to the discount over the iPhone XR which was a welcome surprise for consumers. However, Apple devices do not have 5G technology and will have to deal with this handicap also in 2020. It will lose operators’ investments in 5G marketing and promotions and the prospect of an iPhone 12 with 5G could convince some customers to delay the Purchase of a new iPhone waiting for the new one with 5G. Apple will have to implement an excellent persuasive strategy to keep the sales volume high early next year. A great help could come from the launch of the entry-level iPhone in the first quarter of 2020.