The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has surpassed Apple in global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2020, therefore securing the third spot for the first time, multiple market analysis reports highlighted. According to reports provided by market analytics firms IDC, Counterpoint, and Canalys, Samsung regains the top spot in terms of global smartphone shipment, beating Huawei that still holds the second position.
Starting with the Counterpoint report, the global smartphone market declined 4 percent year-on-year (YoY) but posted a QoQ growth (32 percent) to reach 366 million units in Q3 2020. The growth in the June-September quarter of this year in comparison to Q2 2020 is mainly due to eased COVID-19 lockdown restriction in several key markets like the US, India and Latin America. As per the Counterpoint report, Samsung retained the top spot, shipping 79.8 million smartphone units to register a two percent annual growth. This is also the highest ever shipment by Samsung in the last three years, the estimates added. Recently, another Counterpoint report stated that the South Korean smartphone maker surpassed Xiaomi after two years to become the leading smartphone company in India. Huawei was the runner-up in the global market but showed a declining trend as its share dropped from 20 percent in Q2 2020 to 14 percent in Q3 2020.
Apple fell to number four spot, making way for Xiaomi to reach the third spot for the first time that shipped 46.2 million around this time. Despite a strong sales in Q3 2020, Apple’s YoY growth fell by seven percent, mainly due to the company’s delayed iPhone 12 launch in October instead of September like most years. The fifth spot was secured by Oppo that shipped 31 million units of smartphones with a market share of eight percent, according to Counterpoint.
The latest Canalys report also projects a similar picture for global smartphone shipments in Q3 2020. As per the research company, worldwide smartphone shipments reached 348 million units, at a one percent decline YoY. The rankings posted by Canalys are the same as Counterpoint, although the fifth spot here is held by Vivo instead of Oppo. Vivo shipped 31.8 million smartphone units in Q3, therefore capturing 9.1 percent market share during in the last quarter of 2020. Canalys Analyst, Mo Jia says that in Europe, a key battleground, Huawei’s shipments fell 25 percent, while Xiaomi’s grew 88 percent. “Xiaomi took a risk setting high production targets, but this move paid off when it was able to fill channels in Q3 with high-volume devices, such as the Redmi 9 series,” Jia added.
Estimates by International Data Corporation show that global smartphone shipments reached 354 million units with an annual growth dropping by 1.3 percent. As per the projections, Samsung holds the top sport (22.7 percent share), followed by Huawei (14.7 percent share), Xiaomi (13.1 percent share), and Apple (11.8 percent share), and Vivo (8.9 percent share).
It was also added that OnePlus global market share in terms of shipment grew (by roughly 2 percent), driven by the strong performance of OnePlus 8 series and the Nord in key markets like India and Western Europe.
