The global smartphone market returned to growth in the third quarter, rising 2 percent to 366 million units shipped worldwide, according to research from Strategy Analytics. This is the industry’s first positive growth for two years. Samsung maintained first position with 21 percent global market share, Huawei rose to a record 18 percent, and Apple took third place with a 12 percent market share.
The market researcher sees worldwide demand for smartphones recovering, due to strong price competition among vendors and new innovations such as larger screens and 5G connectivity.
Huawei showed the strongest growth among the top vendors, with shipments up 29 percent to 66.7 million, driven by growth on its home market. Its market share rose by nearly 4 percent points year-on-year to 18.2 percent.
Samsung also showed growth, of 8 percent to 78.2 million units, thanks to strong demand for the Galaxy Note 10 and A series smartphones. Its global smartphone market share rose to 21.3 percent from 20.1 percent a year ago.
Apple remained in third place, despite a fall in iPhone shipments of 3 percent to an estimated 46.9 million. Strategy Analytics said Apple appears to be stabilizing, due to cheaper iPhone 11 pricing and healthier demand across Asia and the US. Apple’s market share dipped to 12.4 percent from 13.0 percent a year ago.
Xiaomi maintained fourth place, capturing 8.8 percent of the global smartphone market, slightly down from a year ago. Xiaomi is losing ground in core markets of India and China, due to fierce competition from Huawei, Realme and others. Oppo took fifth place with a market share of 8.0 percent, slipping from 8.7 percent share a year ago, due to pressure from Huawei in China.
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