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Global sales of smartphones to end users declined 2.7% in the first quarter of 2019, totalling 373 million units, according to research company Gartner. Despite its absence from the US, Huawei maintained its ranking as the No. 2 smartphone vendor worldwide and continued to reduce the gap with Samsung.

In the first quarter of 2019, Samsung retained the top spot in worldwide smartphone sales, achieving 19.2% market share (see Table 1). Huawei achieved the highest year-over-year growth among the world’s top five, growing 44.5% and smartphone sales totalling 58.4 million units.

Commenting on the impact of the recently announced US restrictions on Huawei products, Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner states, “Unavailability of Google apps and services on Huawei smartphones, if implemented, will upset Huawei’s international smartphone business which is almost half of its worldwide phone business. Not the least it brings apprehension among buyers, limiting Huawei’s growth in the near term.”

For now though, sales of Huawei smartphones grew in all regions. “Huawei did particularly well in two of its biggest regions, Europe and Greater China, where its smartphone sales grew by 69% and 33%, respectively,” said Gupta. Huawei’s continued dominance in Greater China, where it commanded a 29.5% market share, helped it secure the No. 2 global smartphone vendor ranking in the first quarter of 2019.

Samsung and Apple Recorded Year-Over-Year Declines

Despite a decline in its smartphone sales of 8.8% in the first quarter of 2019, Samsung remained the No. 1 smartphone vendor worldwide. “Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S10 smartphone portfolio, which received a good response. However, its impact was limited as Samsung only started shipping the S10 at the end of the first quarter,” said Gupta. “Samsung also strengthened its midtier and entry-tier smartphone ranges with a refreshed A series and J series and the newly introduced M series, but aggressive competition from Chinese manufacturers limited their impact.”

Sales of Apple iPhones totalled 44.6 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a decline of 17.6% year over year. “The price cut for iPhones across markets helped drive up demand but wasn’t enough to restore growth in the first quarter,” said Gupta. “Apple is facing longer replacement cycles as users struggle to see enough value benefits to justify replacing existing iPhones.”

Competition for the No. 5 Spot Continued

Vivo beat Xiaomi to claim the No. 5 spot in the first quarter of 2019. Vivo sold 27.4 million smartphones during the quarter, with Xiaomi managing 27.2 million.

The latest features, such as in-display fingerprint scanner, slider camera, fast charging and almost bezel-less display, helped Vivo achieve double-digit smartphone sales growth in the first quarter of 2019. “However, the company could do much better by expanding its range of its entry-tier smartphones and selling them in emerging Asia/Pacific markets,” said Gupta.

The worldwide scene

Slowing innovation in flagship smartphones and rising prices continued to extend replacement cycles. The two countries that sell the most smartphones, namely the US and China, saw sales decline by 15.8% and 3.2%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2019.

Gupta notes that demand for premium smartphones remained lower than for basic smartphones, affecting brands such as Samsung and Apple that have significant stakes in high-end smartphones. In addition, he states that demand for utility smartphones (a voice-centric, entry-level mobile device, generally of low cost) declined as the rate of upgrading from feature phones to smartphones has slowed, given that 4G feature phones give users great advantages at a lower cost.