Samsung, Apple smartphones shipment decline by 38.3% in Q1 2019

…Vendors shipped 311m smartphones in first quarter of 2019

…Industry experts signal another bad year for smartphone shipments

Ladesope Ladelokun

In recent time, smartphone shipments into Nigeria have continue to decline, as Samsung and Apple volumes dipped by a whopping 38.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2019.

This is even as the preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker has revealed that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 311 million units of smartphones during the period under review.

In fact, the breakdown of the declined figure showed that Samsung volumes dropped by 8.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 with shipments standing at 71.9 million, while Apple recorded a poor first quarter as its shipments dropped to 36.4 million units, represented a 30.2 per cent drop from 2018.

The figure, according to industry experts signals another bad year for smartphone shipments as the figure represents the sixth consecutive quarter decline.

However, despite a decline in smartphone volumes by 15 per cent year over year, Huawei closed the gap between it and Samsung by increasing its shipments by 50 per cent.

Commenting on this development, Vice President with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, Ryan Reith, said it was increasingly clear that Huawei is laser-focused on growing its stature in the world of mobile devices, with smartphones being its lead horse.

He said the overall market has continued to be challenged in almost all areas, but Huawei was able to raise its shipments by 50 per cent, which places it at number two in terms of market share and closes the gap on the market leader (Samsung), adding that the new ranking of Samsung, Huawei and Apple is very likely “what we will see when 2019 is all said and done”.

On why Smartphone shipments dipped in the first quarter of 2019, Anthony Scarsella, Research Manager at IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, traced it to the continued slowdown witnessed at the high end of the market, stating that consumers continue to hold on to their phones longer than before as newer higher priced models offer little incentive to shell out top dollar to upgrade.

He added that the pending arrival of 5G handsets could have consumers waiting until both the networks and devices are ready for Primetime in 2020.