Only Xiaomi and vivo experienced growths for Q1 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has made a big impact on the smartphone industry. According to Canalys’ Q1 2020 report, the pandemic has caused worldwide smartphone shipments to fall by 13% to 272 million units. This is the lowest level for smartphone shipments since 2013, and that’s despite the industry entering 2020 in good health.
“Smartphones are still a necessity for most people, and device availability in online channels has enabled those who need to replace a broken or lost phone to do so. But many customers who would have bought a new smartphone as a luxury have delayed that purchase,” Canalys Senior Analyst Ben Stanton said.
While Samsung is still on the top of the food chain at #1, its shipments fell 17% to 60 million, a drastic drop from the 71.5 million last year. It’s the same story for Huawei and Apple, who has seen shipments drop by 17% and 8% compared to Q1 2019.
Only Xiaomi and Vivo have enjoyed growth in Q1 2020, with the former posting 9% growth and the latter enjoying 3% growth.
Despite that, the smartphone market is in a very tough position right now. Very few people are buying phones because of the economic impact and uncertainty of the virus that has affected almost every country on the planet. The extent of the economic damage of the virus still isn’t clear – Canalys predicts that Q2 would the peak of the coronavirus’ impact on manufacturers as well as retailers, and both will need to be flexible and adaptable to mitigate most of the economic fallout of the pandemic.
