Apple Drops To Fourth Spot In Global Smartphone Shipments Behind Xiaomi

The global smartphone market is on a gradual recovery phase with shipments of approximately 350 million devices in the third quarter of 2020. The Verge initially reported the shakeup across the global smartphone phone market.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd SSNLF topped the leaderboard in Q3 followed by the Chinese smartphone companies Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Xiaomi Corp XIACF, while the fabled iPhone maker, Apple Inc AAPL trailed at the fourth sport.
Multiple smartphone research firms like International Data Corporation (IDC), Counterpoint Research, and Canalys presented different shipment figures but agreed on the overall rankings.

IDC Research Highlights: Preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker showed that 353.6 million smartphone shipments were made in Q3 2020. Strong sales volumes were driven by promotions and discounts in emerging markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia.

Samsung’s global market share in smartphone sales increased to 22.7% while the Q2 market leader Huawei’s presence declined to 14.7%. Samsungs M series in India and A series, Note 20 and Note 20 ultra models in the U.S. were the star performers this quarter.

Xiaomi ranked third with a 13.1% share. Xiaomi’s Redmi 9 series performed well both in India and China. Apple’s market size fell to 11.8%, which IDC attributed to the month-long delay in the Phone 12 launch.

Counterpoint Research: Counterpoint’s Market Monitor Service claimed 366 million quarterly smartphone shipments, a 32% sequential growth despite a 4% fall compared to 3Q 2019.

Talking about the market recovery, Associate Director Tarun Pathak commented that, “Eased lockdown conditions in all key markets made way for exports and imports, thus streamlining the supply chain again.”

Counterpoint believes that India, Western Europe, and the Latin American regions triggered Samsung’s resurgence as the top smartphone brand in Q3.

Although Huawei dropped to the second position this quarter, it still shipped 40% of the entire 5G smartphone market.

Number three brand Xiaomi reported a record Q3 shipments with 46.2 million units, a 75% growth compared to Q2.

Forecasts hint that Apple’s volumes are set for a rebound in Q4 with the 5G enabled iPhone 12 series.

The Canalys Verdict: The research by global technology market analyst firm Canalys claims a 22% quarter-on-quarter growth in the smartphone market, with 348 million shipments.

Low-mid range device launches backed by promotional incentives, a positive impact in India due to anti-China sentiment, and a spillover of pent-up demand played a major role in Samsung’s flight to the top, according to Canalys analyst Shengtao Jin.

Analyst Mo Jia believes that Huawei's pain points turned out to be Xiaomi’s strategic breakthroughs.

Other Noteworthy Brands: Vivo’s Y Series models performed well in the Southeast Asian countries. In September, Vivo decided to diversify into the wearables segment with plans to launch its first smartwatch, Counterpoint noted. Oppo is also eyeing the European markets with operator partnerships and tie-ups in sports events, as per Counterpoint.

Price Movement: AAPL rose 3.71% on Thursday's trading session. However, it dropped 4.22% during the extended trading hours to close at $110.45.

Apple reported $64.7 billion in revenue for its third quarter on Thursday, higher than a $63.7 billion average consensus.