As per the recent report by Gartner, Smartphone sales continued to decline around the world in the third quarter of this year, dropping 0.4% compared to the same period last year.
This was the third consecutive quarter of decline for smartphone sales, but the smallest decline of the year, with a 1.7% drop in the second quarter of 2019, and a 2.7% drop in the first quarter of 2019, according to Gartner.
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Brands such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo have been able to improve their entry-level and midtier portfolios as a result of this shift in purchasing decisions, and Huawei, Samsung and OPPO have grown in the third quarter of 2019 as a result. In comparison, Apple has seen a double-digit decline in sales, in a year-over-year comparison.
“The current situation with the US has also fostered patriotism among Huawei’s partners, which are now keener to promote its smartphones in China — a development that makes it difficult for local competitors to compete aggressively against Huawei. Huawei’s long investment in subbrands (Honor and Nova), in multichannel operations (online and retail), and in 5G and other technological innovation forms the basis of its success in China,” according to the Gartner release.
Huawei recorded double-digit sales growth despite the slowing smartphone market, and was the only one of the top-five global smartphone vendors with double-digit growth in smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2019.
Huawei sold 65.8 million smartphones, a 26% increase compared to the same period in 2018. Its performance in China is the key driver of its growth, with 40.5 million of its smartphone sales occurring there. The ban on Huawei to access key US technology is yet to be fully implemented, but the proposed ban brought negativity around the brand in the international market, according to the Gartner release.
