Huawei Surpasses Apple in Smartphone Market in 2Q18

According to preliminary data from IDC, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 342.0 million units during the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18), resulting in a 1.8% decline when compared to the 348.2 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2017.

The drop marks the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines for the global smartphone market and only the fourth quarter of decline in history. IDC believes this is the result of churn in some highly penetrated markets, although many high growth markets still exist and should return smartphone shipments to overall growth.

The arrival of Huawei in the second position marks the first quarter since 2Q10 where Apple has not been the number one or two smartphone company in terms of market share. Huawei delivered shipments of 54.2 million units to move into the second position with a record high market share of 15.8%. Samsung maintained a comfortable lead, although indications from its recent 2Q18 earnings call suggest its mobile division revenues will face challenges moving forward.

Samsung once again remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market despite a 10.4% decline in shipments from last year. The Korean giant will look to bolster sales in the coming weeks as we await the arrival of the new Galaxy Note 9. The new Note will be unveiled on August 9th and is expected to launch earlier than the Note 8.

Huawei surpassed Apple for the first time to move into the second position based on global market share. It continues to lead the China smartphone market with a record-high market share of 27.0% in 2Q18. 618 promotions led to strong sales for Honor models in the online channels as the Honor brand continues to be a key driver of growth for the Chinese tech giant.

Apple dropped to the third spot for the first time despite its second quarter growth. Apple shipped 41.3 million iPhones, representing modest growth of 0.7% over the 41.0 million units shipped last year. Apple will look to regain control of the market this fall with the expected launch of three next generations of iPhone models.

Xiaomi has pulled ahead of Samsung for the number 1 position in India over the past few quarters. It has closed the gap with Samsung in Indonesia as it ramped up its local production to address the increased demand during Ramadhan period, while also expanding its online channel presence and opening up more Mi home stores in the country.

OPPO faced a slowdown in key markets like India and most of Southeast Asia as it eased back on its aggressive marketing and sales activities in the region. Despite this, the company still managed to grow 5.1% over last year as it continued its expansion into other markets such as the Middle East & Africa.