Smartphone Sales in Q2 Slowest in the Last 6 Years

Global smartphone shipments start showing signs of slowdown. The smartphone market grew just 15 percent annually from 295.0 million units in second quarter last year to reach 340 million units in the second quarter of this year, recording industry’s slowest growth rate for six years, according to a latest research from Strategy Analytics.

Major brands such as Apple and Huawei, however bucked the trend and grew rapidly to gain several points of marketshare in the last quarter. Apple shipped 47.5 million smartphones worldwide and captured 14 percent marketshare in the quarter, rising from 12 percent in the second quarter last year. The leader in this segment, Samsung lost 4 percent of its market share to retain a 21 percent share. Huawei moved up to third position with a 9 percent global smartphone marketshare. Xiaomi recaptured the fourth position with 6 percent share, moving ahead of Lenovo-Motorola which took the fifth place with 5 percent share.

According to Strategic Analytics, Huawei's rapid expansion across Asia, Europe and North America is putting competitive pressure on key rivals such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, LG, Sony and Alcatel. 

Linda Sui, Director, Strategy Analytics
This quarter was the smartphone industry’s slowest growth rate for six years, since the depths of the global economic recession back in Q3 2009. Smartphone growth is slowing due to increasing penetration maturity in major markets of the US, Europe and China.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director, Strategy Analytics
Smartphones will need a design transformation to revitalize growth in the future, such as foldable or rollable displays. Samsung faced intense competition from Chinese brands in the low-end smartphone market, while the company underestimated demand for its popular S6 edge flagship model in the high-end.