Apple Grows Smartphone Market Share Even As Overall Market Declines At Record Pace

The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the smartphone market, as reflected by the 11.7% year-over-year decline in overall shipments in the first quarter, according to the International Data Corporation.

Tech giant Apple Inc. AAPL, though not immune to the downturn, largely maintained its year-over-year shipment numbers and also grew its market share. 

Pandemic Disrupts Smartphone Supply, Demand

Overall global smartphone shipments came in at 275.8 million in the first quarter, marking the biggest year-over-year decline on record, according to the IDC report. 

Unsurprisingly, China led the decline with a 20.3% slump. The quarter saw the onset of the pandemic in China and a ubsequent lockdown in the nation to curb the coronavirus. Western Europe and the U.S. were close behind, with declines of 18.3% and 16.1%, respectively.

As the quarter progressed, supply chain issues in China also hurt global shipments, IDC said.

"While the supply chain in China started to recover at end of the quarter, as IDC expected, major economies around the world went into complete lockdown causing consumer demand to flatline," Nabila Popal, research director at the IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said in the report. 

See also: Apple's 'China Growth Renaissance' Unlikely To Be Hurt By Coronavirus, Analyst Says

Apple Fares Better Among Top Smartphone Producers 

Apple shipped 36.7 million units of smartphones in the first quarter, according to the IDC's estimates. 

This represented a mere 0.4% year-over-year drop. The Cupertino, California-based company expanded its market share from 11.8% in the first quarter of 2019 to 13.3% in the first quarter of 2020.

In comparison, South Korean electronics giant Samsung shipped 58.3 million units, translating to 21.4% of the total market. This represents a decline from the 23% share Samsung held in the same quarter of last year.

Unit shipments fell a steeper 18.9% year-over-year.

Source: IDC

Second-place smartphone vendor Huawei saw a contraction in its market share from 18.9% to 17.8%, as it sold 49 million units, a 17.1% year-over-year drop.

IDC attributed Apple's relatively better performance to the iPhone 11's positive reception.

The recent launch of the SE model could bring in more sales, as it that targets the lower-priced segment at a time when cost-conscious buyers could favor budget models in an uncertain economic climate.

Apple doesn't break down iPhone numbers. The company said in its second-quarter results released last week that iPhone revenue fell 6.7% to $28.96 billion.

Xiaomi Corp XIACF and Vivo, which took the fourth and fifth positions in the IDC report, grew their market share by 1.9 and 1.6 percentage points, respectively. Unit shipments from these two vendors rose 6.1% and 7%, respectively.

Related Link: BofA Raises Apple's Price Target, Expects 'Another Leg Up' Following Q1 Earnings

Photo courtesy of Apple.