A total of 299 million smartphones were shipped worldwide in the first quarter of 2020, down 20.2% year-on-year, according to market research firm Gartner.
The global smartphone market has experienced its worst-ever decline due to a new coronavirus outbreak, including Apple and most Chinese handset makers that have been hit hard by temporary factory closures, Gartner said.
Samsung, Huawei, Apple, Xiaomi and OPPO were the top five mobile phone brands in terms of global market share in the first quarter, with the exception of Xiaomi, which grew 1.4 percent, the other four saw year-on-year declines in sales, with Huawei slipping up to 27.3 percent.
Samsung shipped 55.333 million units, down 22.7 percent year-on-year, with a market share of 18.5 percent.
Huawei shipped 42.249 million units, down 27.3% year-on-year, with a 14.2% market share.
Apple shipped 40.9 million units, down 8.2 percent year-over-year, with a market share of 13.7 percent.
Xiaomi shipped 27.817 million units, up 1.4 percent year-on-year, with a market share of 9.3 percent.
OPPO shipped 23.949 million units, down 19.1% year-over-year, with a market share of 8%.
Gartner mentioned that Apple could have broken iPhone sales records in the first quarter of 2020 if the outbreak hadn't occurred, but the reality is that capacity stops in the supply chain and a drop in consumer spending stopped that trend in February.
The good thing is that Apple has played some positive roles through the online channel and after production recovered at the end of March.
Xiaomi's mobile phone sales have achieved reverse growth, mainly due to progress in overseas markets.
According to IDC statistics, Xiaomi's domestic smartphone shipments in the first quarter fell 33.8% year-on-year.
However, Xiaomi is growing rapidly in overseas markets such as Western Europe, according to Canalys, Xiaomi smartphone shipments in the first quarter increased 79.3 percent year-on-year in Western Europe.
According to Canalys statistics, in the first quarter, Xiaomi's global smartphone shipments rose to 11.1 percent of the market share, one of only two of the world's top five mobile phone manufacturers whose shipments have maintained growth.
Huawei's mobile phone sales fell sharply, mainly dragged down by overseas markets.
Since last year, Huawei's inability to obtain a Google Mobile Service (GMS) license has slowed its mobile phone sales in overseas markets.
According to IDC, Huawei's domestic market mobile phone shipments grew nearly 6 percent in the first quarter, but Huawei's overseas mobile phone sales slumped to 36 percent, according to Counterpoint.
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