In Major Development, Smartphone Sales Fall, Apple Share Disappoints

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 30, 5:53PM EST · Published Jul 31, 6:40AM EDT

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In Major Development, Smartphone Sales Fall, Apple Share Disappoints — © Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images

Smartphones have fueled the growth in consumer electronics sales for nearly a decade. Billions of people own these devices, and they are critical to the futures of major global companies like Samsung and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction). Continuing a recent trend, smartphone sales have continued to fall.

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According to Strategy Analytics, smartphone shipments were down 3% in the second quarter. Linda Sui, one of the directors of the research firm, said:

Global smartphone shipments dipped 3 percent annually from 350.4 million units in Q2 2018 to 341.4 million in Q2 2019. The global smartphone market has declined again on an annual basis, but the fall is less severe than before, and this was the industry’s best performance for over a year. Global smartphone shipments are showing further signs of stabilizing, due to relatively enhanced demand in major markets like China. The outlook for the second half of this year is improving.

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Samsung maintained its position as the number one smartphone company by market share. It shipped 76.3 million phones in the quarter, up from 71.5 million last year. Chinese manufacturer Huawei, caught in a trade war with the United States, nevertheless took second place. Its shipments rose from 54.2 million to 58.7 million.

Apple was third, and its shipments fell from 41.3 million to 38.0 million. Sui commented:

Apple iPhone shipped 38.0 million units to capture 11 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q2 2019, dipping from 12 percent marketshare a year ago. Apple iPhone shipments fell 8 percent annually, making it the worst performer among the world’s big-five smartphone players. Apple is stabilizing in China due to price adjustments and buoyant trade-ins, but other major markets such as India and Europe remain challenging for the expensive iPhone.

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi had flat shipments of 32.0 million in the second quarter, compared with the same quarter a year ago. China’s Oppo was next with shipments of 29.8 million, down from 30.2 million in the year-ago period.

The numbers were doubly bad for Apple as it tries to increase flagging iPhone sales. It not only has trouble with its number of shipments, but it also is competing in a stagnant market.

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Vendor	Global Shipments (Market Share) Q2 2018	Global Shipments (Market Share) Q2 2019
Samsung	71.5 million (20.4%)	76.3 million (22.3%)
Huawei	54.2 million (15.5%)	58.7 million (17.2%)
Apple	41.3 million (11.8%)	38.0 million (11.1%)
Xiaomi	32.0 million (9.1%)	32.0 million (9.4%)
Oppo	30.2 million (8.6%)	29.8 million (8.7%)
Others	121.2 million (34.6%)	106.6 million (31.2%)
Total	350.4 million	341.4 million

Source: Strategy Analytics. Numbers are rounded. Total growth year over year: −2.8 in Q2 2018, −2.6 in Q2 2019.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.