Smartphones accounted for 78% of mobile phone shipments worldwide in Q2, according to Strategy Analytics. “Apple outperformed as consumers in China and elsewhere upgraded to bigger-screen iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models”. Apple revealed in its latest quarterly earnings that it saw iPhone sales climb 35% year-on-year to 47M units. So did Huawei, going to 30.6 million from 20.6 million. “Huawei has finally overtaken Microsoft to become the world’s third largest mobile phone vendor for the first time ever”. This makes it the third largest smartphone vendor in the world, following Samsung and Apple whose market shares reached 20.5 percent and 10.9 percent respectively.
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“Global mobile phone shipments grew a lackluster 2 percent annually from 428 million units in [2014’s second quarter] to 434.6 million in [2015’s second quarter]”, Strategy Analytics director Woody Oh said.
Now languishing in fourth place in the table, Microsoft’s figures made for grim reading; the firm shipped 27.8 million handsets, down from 50.3 million in Q2 a year ago.
It should also be noted that Apple doesn’t sell “mobile phones” or “feature phones” that are tossed into the stats noted below.
As analyst Linda Sui with the firm puts it, “Smartphone growth is slowing due to increasing penetration maturity in major markets of the US, Europe and China”. “Huawei is rising fast in all regions of the world, particularly China where its 4G models, such as the Mate7, are proving wildly popular”, said Strategy Analytics director Ken Hyers.
Huawei now has a global market share of 7 percent.
Update: Strategy Analytics released a second report, on smartphones specifically. Samsung has stabilized volumes in the high-end, but its lower-tier mobile phones continue to face intense competition from rivals such as Huawei in Asia.
Mawston remarked that Microsoft’s share is “near an all-time low”, with the company continuing to “lose ground” in feature phones and that its “Lumia” smartphone line is in a “holding pattern”.
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Windows 10 Mobile will have an uphill battle on its hands when Microsoft rolls it out later this year, as the company’s share in the mobile market continues to slip.
