Global Smartphone Shipments Grew for First Time in Two Years in Q3 2019: Canalys, Strategy Analytics

Global smartphone shipments bucked the downward trend for the first time in two years to grow in Q3 2019, research firms Canalys and Strategy Analytics claim. According to Canalys, worldwide smartphone shipments grew 1 percent year-over-year, whereas Strategy Analytics notes the growth was 2 percent. In terms of the total shipments, the smartphone makers shipped 352.4 million smartphones, as per Canalys, and 366 million, as per Strategy Analytics. Samsung, Huawei, and Apple grabbed the top three spots in both research firms' reports, followed by Xiaomi and Oppo.

“Global smartphone shipments grew 2 percent annually from 359.8 million units in Q3 2018 to 366.3 million in Q3 2019," said Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, in a statement. "The global smartphone market grew for the first time since the third quarter of 2017. Worldwide demand for smartphones is recovering, due to strong pricing competition among vendors and new innovations such as larger screens and 5G connectivity.”

According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped 78.2 million smartphone units in last quarter to grab 21.3 percent market share, followed by Huawei with 66.7 million shipments for 18.2 percent share, and Apple with 45.6 million shipments for 12.4 percent share. Xiaomi and Oppo accounted for 32.3 million and 29.4 million smartphone shipments in Q3 2019, respectively. Apart from Samsung and Huawei, the smartphone shipments of all other major smartphone makers dropped year-over-year, and same was the case for their market share.

Apple grabbed the third spot in smartphone shipments in Q3 2019
Photo Credit: Strategy Analytics

Talking about Canalys figures, the research firm says that Samsung shipped a total of 78.9 million units in the last quarter to grab the top spot. It was followed by Huawei with 66.8 million units and Apple with 43.5 million units. Xiaomi shipped 32.5 million units, whereas Oppo accounted for 32 million shipments in the Canalys report.

As per a chart shared by Canalys, the global smartphone shipments were continuously rising year-over-year since 2009 until Q3 2017, barring lone first quarter in 2016. However, ever since Q4 2017, the smartphone shipments had been declining until the last quarter. So, the Q3 2019 has come as a good news for at least some of the smartphone makers.

Samsung's smartphone shipments were up 11 percent year-over-year
Photo Credit: Canalys