Recent research results from Strategy Analytics revealed that for the first time in history, the smartphone industry experienced its first ever full-year decline, with global smartphone shipments falling by 5% in 2018.
“The global smartphone market has now declined for five consecutive quarters, due to longer replacement rates, a lack of wow models, and economic headwinds,” Director of Strategy Analytics, Linda Sui, says. “This was the first time ever in history the global smartphone market has declined on a full-year basis. It is a landmark event.”
Executive Director at Strategy Analytics Neil Mawston explains, “Samsung remains the world’s number one smartphone vendor, despite intense competition from Apple, Huawei and others across core markets of India, Europe and the US.”
“Apple suffered big losses in China and this dragged down its global performance,” he adds. “Apple suffered big losses in China and this dragged down its global performance.”
Sui says about Xiaomi, one of the top brands in the market today, “Xiaomi’s growth crashed in the final few months of last year, due to overstocked inventory and fierce pricing competition from Chinese rivals like Huawei and Realme in key regions such as China and India.” She also says, “Xiaomi faces a much tougher 2019 and may struggle to maintain profits if growth continues to decline.”
More than half the global market was dominated by the big four smartphone brands: Korean brand Samsung, American brand Apple, Chinese brand Huawei, and Chinese brand Xiaomi.
