Apple Bucked the Worldwide Smartphone Shipments Decline in Q2 2018 as Huawei Temporarily Knocked them into Third Place
This afternoon IDC reported that 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 one smartphone company that stood out this quarter for volume was definitely Huawei. Worldwide shipments show that the company delivered close to 41% growth Year-over-Year and in China, the company's volume grew 22%.
Xiaomi was another smartphone vendor with thunderous growth worldwide showing 48.8% Year-over-Year growth. Considering that neither Chinese vendor in the U.S. market only makes them a larger powerhouse. Both companies are taking their growth from Samsung who declined 10.4% in Q2 2018 worldwide. In China, Samsung has fallen off the grid.
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. The iPhone continued to perform well at the high end as the iPhone X remains a top seller in many markets. Apple will look to regain control of the market this fall with the expected launch of three next generations of iPhone models. The new models are rumored to bring different screens sizes, price points, increased performance, and new features to the table when they arrive next quarter.
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. In the first half of this quarter, Huawei's P20/P20 Pro series found strong demand in the $600-$800 price segment, helping Huawei build a high profile in the market. In the second half, with the release of its "GPU Turbo" technology, Huawei continued to earn a good reputation. 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. The charts / graphics below are from a new report by Canalys posted today.
Apple's next-gen smartphones are due in September which will fire Apple back into the second spot worldwide for Q4 2018.
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