Gartner: Sales in North America and Emerging Asia Pacific Regions Strong Last Year
Apple and Xiaomi are the only ones to grow, with increases of 7.8% and 16.5%, respectively
Samsung and Huawei's Contrasting Foldable Phone Strategies Points to Watch

Global smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of last year decreased by 0.4% compared to the same period last year, and sales for the entire year of 2019 decreased by 1% compared to the previous year.

Smartphone sales increased slightly in North America and emerging Asia-Pacific markets last year, with India overtaking the US to become the second largest smartphone market in 2019 with 151.9 million units sold, while China maintained its top spot with 390.8 million units sold in 2019.
According to the 2019 Q4 Worldwide Smartphone Sales Report released by Gartner on the 4th, among the top five smartphone companies, only Apple and Xiaomi showed growth. Despite a decrease in sales, Samsung ranked first with a market share of 17.3%, and Apple ranked second with a market share of 17.1%.

Apple's iPhone sales, which had been declining for four consecutive quarters, recovered to growth in the fourth quarter, increasing 7.8%. Gartner analyzed that the increase in demand for iPhones led to the increase in sales as the price of the iPhone 11 series was slightly lower than that of the iPhone XR and the price of the previous generation iPhone models was lowered.

iPhone sales were particularly strong in China, where they grew 39% in the fourth quarter. Apple also performed well in several mature and developing markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Brazil and India.

Gartner analysts expect Apple to release its first 5G smartphone in the third quarter and to promote the purchase of the new model in countries where 5G network services are available.
Xiaomi's smartphone sales in the fourth quarter totaled 32.4 million units, up 16.5% year-on-year. Xiaomi overtook Oppo to take fourth place, and achieved great success in the emerging Asia-Pacific region, with Gartner analysts saying that the price and performance of Redmi models drove sales growth.

Xiaomi is using a strategy of raising smartphone prices to increase profits in China. While retail-focused companies like Oppo and Vivo have struggled amid the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Xiaomi has found opportunities thanks to its strategy of expanding online channels.


Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi all record growth
Samsung maintained its top spot in the global market despite a 0.5 percent year-on-year decline in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter.

Samsung's annual smartphone sales in 2019 reached 296.2 million units, up 0.4% year-over-year.

Samsung successfully revamped its mid-range and entry-level smartphone sales strategy in 2019. To attract price-sensitive buyers of premium smartphones, Samsung launched the Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite models in January last year. Recently, it has been countering Huawei's threat by announcing a new foldable smartphone.

“Samsung and Huawei will be interesting to watch in the foldable phone market as they have taken very different approaches,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “Samsung has shifted from a landscape to a portrait folding smartphone with the Galaxy Z Flip, reducing both the size and the price at the same time, whereas Huawei has raised the price of the Mate Xs, preloading its Huawei AppGallery, which now offers access to Huawei Mobile Services worldwide.”
Huawei recorded the highest annual growth rate of 18.6% in 2019, surpassing Apple to take second place. Despite ongoing U.S. sanctions, Huawei pursued an aggressive smartphone strategy in China, recording a 37% market share last year.

“If the US ban on Huawei’s access to technology continues in 2020, Huawei’s performance in the global smartphone market will be severely impacted,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst.

“The COVID-19 outbreak is expected to have a negative impact on smartphone demand in China in the first quarter of 2020, but we do not expect global smartphone demand to decline during this period,” said Annette Zimmermann, research vice president at Gartner.