Huawei beats Apple to rise to second place in market share

Market research firms Canalisys and Counterpoint Research released a 2019 global smartphone market share report. Both companies revealed that Huawei has achieved great growth, indicating that Huawei has risen to the position of a smartphone maker with the world’s second largest market share beyond Apple.

According to the Canalisys report, looking at the number of shipments by company in the fourth quarter of 2019 and the growth rate from the same period last year, smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter amounted to 369 million units. This is an increase of 1% compared to the previous year, indicating the market growth for the second consecutive quarter. Canalisys explained that the reason why Apple increased its shipments significantly in the fourth quarter was because the iPhone 11 gained popularity in emerging regions such as Asia.

In terms of year-on-year shipments and market share, Samsung Electronics, which owns the Galaxy brand, took the largest share in the year. Its shipments are 298.1 million units and its market share is 21.8%. The second place is Huawei, which has a market share of 17.6% with a shipment of 240.6 million units, and the third place is Apple, which has a market share of 198.1 million units and a market share of 14.5%. In addition, annual shipments of smartphones decreased by 1% compared to the previous year.

Huawei’s annual sales volume increased by 17% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Apple ranked second over Huawei in 2018, but in 2019, the number of shipments decreased by 7% compared to the previous year, giving Huawei the second place.

Counterpoint Research also produced almost the same results as Canalisys. It was revealed that Huawei took the second place. The counterpoint Research side heard that Huawei entered the European market in 2019 as a reason for the big leap forward and quickly launched a device that supports 5G without relying on Google mobile services. He also explained that 60% of Huawei’s shipments came from China, and that the huge Chinese market as an ally is the reason for Huawei’s rapid growth.

However, due to the US exclusion of Huawei, Google has stopped supporting Android for Huawei smartphones, and Huawei is equipped with its own operating system. Counterpoint Research speculated that it would be almost impossible for Huawei’s own operating system to compete with Android outside of China. He also pointed out that as competition in the smartphone market intensifies, Huawei’s strategy of selling old models in non-China markets will not work anymore.

Counterpoint Research pointed out that tensions between some countries affecting the smartphone market are rising, and pointed out that, for example, the US has put pressure on Huawei and that tensions between Korea and Japan have led to uncertainty in the memory market. These supply chains are fluctuating and various companies are looking to review strategies and reduce their reliance on a single market. He pointed out that this year there is a possibility that efforts will be made to further diversify investment targets to reduce risk. It also mentions that the novel coronavirus outbreak is one of the recent problems threatening the supply chain. Related information can be found here ( Canalisys , Counterpoint Research ).