The global market for ‘smartphones’ has experienced a decrease of 13% compared to the previous year, according to data from the first quarter of 2020, which means sales below 300 million units.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mobile phone market, as reported in the Counterpoint report, which indicates that this is the first time since the first quarter of 2014 that sales have not reached 300 million units worldwide.
The reduction seen in the first quarter of 2020 is mainly due to the 27% decrease over last year in sales from China, the country where the pandemic originated. If in the first quarter of 2019 it had a market share of 26%, it has been reduced to 22%.
The situation in China has also caused problems in the supply of components for other manufacturers, which has influenced sales globally. Overall, a decrease of 13% has been collected in the ‘smartphone’ market compared to data from a year ago.
In this context, Samsung maintains the first position in the global market, with 20% compared to 21% the previous year. Its sales have dropped from 72 million units to 59 million. In the case of Apple, although its sales have been reduced from 42 million to 40 million, its presence in the market has reached 14% compared to 12% the previous year, maintaining in any case the third position.
Although the trend has been the decline in sales, brands such as Realme and Xioami have improved their figures in the first quarter of 2020. Specifically, Realme has gone from 2.8 million units to 7.2 million in one year, while Xiaomi has reached 29.7 million, compared to 27.8 in 2019.
On the other hand, the pandemic has also affected the deployment of 5G in the world, and has forced, in countries such as Spain or India, to postpone the auctions. The report indicates that 5G can contribute to recovery in the second half of this year, and also indicates that the market for 5G ‘smartphones’ has grown to 8% in sales in the first quarter of 2020, from 1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Cindy Kerr is a reporter for The Social Business News Kat has previously interned at VICE and worked as a reporter for MSNBC.
