14 DAY TRIAL // iPhone sales dropped no less than 23.1% in the first quarter of 2019, according to data provided by Canalys, and this is the biggest single-quarter decline the device ever recorded in its history.
Samsung secured the leading spot with total shipments of 71.5 million units, down 10%, while Huawei took over the runner-up spot thanks to a surprising 50.2% percent increase and 59.1 million sold units.
The South Korean manufacturer how holds a 22.8% market share, while Huawei reached 18.8%. Apple fell to third place with 40.2 million sold smartphones and 12.8% share.
Overall, the smartphone market declined 6.8% during the quarter, and Apple was one the companies hit the hardest.
“This is the largest single-quarter decline in the history of the iPhone,” Ben Stanton, senior analyst at Canalys, explained.
The Chinese struggle
China was once again one particular challenge for Apple, as Huawei account for 34% of all sales despite the declining market.
“But this was far from its only problem. Shipments fell in the US as trade-in initiatives failed to offset longer consumer refresh cycles. In markets such as Europe, Apple is increasingly using discounts to prop up demand, but this is causing additional complexity for distributors, and blurring the value proposition of these ‘premium’ devices in the eyes of consumers,” the analyst continues.
“Apple was also hit by a tough year-on-year compare against Q1 2018, when demand for the new iPhone X spilled over from Q4 2017. However, iPhone did show signs of recovery towards the back-end of the quarter, and this momentum will carry into Q2.”
Huawei, which has set a target of overtaking Samsung and becoming the world’s number one phone manufacturer by 2020, needs to sell 10 million more units in a quarter, the researchers explain. Obviously, Samsung won’t just sit and watch Huawei increasing its sales, as the South Korean firm is expected to counter with more affordable devices in the majority of markets.
