Apple, Huawei buck slowing smartphone sales trend
BY PATRICK SEITZ
02:09 PM ET
The global smartphone industry posted its slowest growth rate in six years in the second quarter. But Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Huawei bucked the trend and grew rapidly to gain market share.
Smartphone shipments grew just 15% annually in the second quarter, reaching 339.5 million units, research firm Strategy Analytics said Thursday. It was the slowest growth since Q3 2009, on the heels of the recession.
"Smartphone growth is slowing due to increasing penetration maturity in major markets of the U.S., Europe and China," Strategy Analytics analyst Linda Sui said in a statement. "Smartphones will need a design transformation to revitalize growth in the future, such as foldable or rollable displays."
South Korea-based Samsung remained the top vendor worldwide, but its market share fell to 21.2% in Q2 from 25.3% a year earlier. Its smartphone shipments fell 3% year over year to 71.9 million units.
Samsung faced intense competition from Chinese brands in the low-end smartphone market. In the high end of the market, Samsung underestimated demand for its popular Galaxy S6 Edge model, Strategy Analytics said.
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple took second place with 14% market share, up from 11.9% a year earlier. It shipped 47.5 million iPhones, up 35% from a year ago. Its larger-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models remained wildly popular in China and the rest of the world, Strategy Analytics said.
China-based Huawei grabbed third place with 9% market share, up from 6.8% in Q2 2014. It shipped 30.5 million smartphones in Q2, up 52% year over year.
"Huawei is expanding rapidly across Asia, Europe and North America, putting competitive pressure on key rivals such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, LG, Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Alcatel," Strategy Analytics analyst Woody Oh said in a statement.
China-based Xiaomi nabbed fourth place with 5.8% global market, up from 5.1% a year earlier. It shipped 19.8 million smartphones in Q2, up 31% year over year.
"Xiaomi has good distribution channels and competitive pricing in its large home market of China, enabling it to stay in front of Lenovo-Motorola, (which) is struggling with the transition from 3G to 4G smartphones in China and the U.S.," Oh said.
Smartphones accounted for 78% of mobile phone shipments worldwide in Q2, according to Strategy Analytics. The remainder are simple feature phones.
Another research firm, Juniper Research, estimated Thursday that global smartphone shipments rose 16% year over year to 338 million units in Q2.
