Huawei surpasses Apple as second-largest smartphone maker – Business Insider
What happened: Huawei’s smartphone shipments grew 50.3% year over year in the first quarter of 2019 to 59.1 million units. The Shenzhen-base telecommunications giant overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone maker worldwide with a market share of 19.0%, according to research firm IDC. Smartphone shipments for Apple meanwhile dropped 30.2% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, reducing its market share to 11.7%. Samsung shipments also fell in the first quarter by 8.1%, although it still holds the top spot with 23.1% share of the global smartphone market.
Why it’s important: The global smartphone shipment volumes decreased 6.6% year over year in the first quarter, declining for the sixth consecutive quarter. Total global smartphone shipments dropped 4.1% in 2018 compared with 2017. The continued weakness in the first quarter signals that 2019 will be another slow year for the worldwide smartphone market. Huawei’s performance was the only highlight in the quarterly data, with gains in both volumes and share. IDC attributed Huawei’s success to its balanced portfolio targeting all smartphone segments from low to high. Huawei’s high-end models created a strong brand affiliation for other cheaper models, which supported the company’s overall shipment performance, IDC said.