iPhone XR Shipments Hit 4.5 Million Units in Q1 2019 as Smartphone Shipments Drop to Five-Year Low in North America: Canalys

iPhone XR was the most popular smartphone in North America during the first quarter of 2019, with nearly 4.5 million unit shipments, even as smartphone shipments declined 18 percent year-on-year (YoY), according to Canalys Research estimates. The smartphone shipments in North America plummeted to a five-year low of 36.4 million units, down from a record high of 44.4 million units during the same period last year. The iPhone maker shipped 14.6 million devices in Q1 2019, compared to 17.9 million devices shipped during Q1 2018.

"Apple's fall in Q1 followed particularly high shipments of flagship iPhones in the previous quarter," Vincent Thielke, Analyst, Canalys Research, said in a statement. "But there was a disconnect between channel orders and consumer demand, which then caused early shipments in Q1 to be challenging for Apple."

Despite the decline, the company managed to maintain 40 percent market share in North America, one of the regions where it sees strong performance. The Cupertino, California-based company has helped by carrier and retail discounts on the older iPhone models.

The next best were Samsung's Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e phones, which reached two million units, or six percent market share, each.

"Samsung also benefited from carrier promotions in Q1, which used the Galaxy S10e as an incentive," said Thielke. “But it will come under pressure later in 2019 as other vendors, such as OnePlus, follow suit with new features, while Google starts expanding into additional channels and price bands, and ZTE attempts to re-establish its footprint at the low end.”

Samsung, with a 29.3 percent market share, shipped 10.7 million devices, followed by LG with 4.8 million shipments, Lenovo with 2.4 million shipments, and TCL with 1.4 million device shipments. Other smartphone makers accounts for 2.5 million shipments with a 6.8 percent market share.

Written with inputs from IANS