The COVID-19 epidemic continues to affect the global mobile phone industry. According to Gartner’s data, global end-user smartphone sales totaled 295 million units in the second quarter of 2020, dropped 20.4%.
Among the top five smartphone manufacturers, Samsung’s sales have fallen the most, while Apple’s mobile phone sales have hardly changed. Although Huawei’s smartphone sales have also declined, its quarter-on-quarter growth of 27.4%, almost tied for first place with Samsung.
Except for China, virtually all major markets continue to face quarantine restrictions in the second quarter of 2020, resulting in a continuous decline in demand for smartphones. Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner, said: “As the situation in China improves, the demand for mobile phones will show signs of picking up. During the pandemic, due to travel restrictions, retail store closures, and cautious consumption of non-essential items, smartphone sales have fallen for the second consecutive quarter this year.”
Even with an increase in demand, sales of smartphones in China fell by only 7% in the second quarter of 2020, and nearly 94 million smartphones were sold. India has adopted strict blockade measures (and even restricted e-commerce), and smartphone sales have fallen by 46%.
Samsung has the biggest decline among the world’s top five smartphone suppliers
Samsung sold nearly 55 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of 27.1% compared to the same period last year. Gupta added: “The COVID-19 epidemic continues to have a negative impact on Samsung’s performance in the second quarter of 2020. Demand for its flagship S-series smartphones has hardly revived its global smartphone sales. “
Compared with the same period last year, Huawei’s smartphone sales fell by 6.8%, with a total sales volume of 54 million.
Apple sold 38 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of 0.4% compared to the same period last year.
