Smartphone sales declined 20 percent year-over-year due to the pandemic

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: The global pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc on the smartphone industry. With two straight quarters of sales that are down more than 20 percent year-over-year and the looming holiday season, it's anyone's guess as to what the second half of 2020 - and beyond - will look like for smartphone makers.

Research and advisory firm Gartner on Tuesday said global smartphone sales reached 295 million units during the second quarter of 2020. While that is certainly a big number, it’s a decline of more than 20 percent compared to the 370 million handsets shipped during the same period in 2019.

Naturally, some companies were impacted more than others.

Samsung sold 27.1 percent fewer smartphones in 2Q20 versus the year-ago quarter while Xiaomi saw sales drop by 21.5 percent, from 33.3 million to 26.1 million units. “Demand for its [Samsung] flagship S Series smartphones did little to revive its smartphone sales globally,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner.

Huawei finished right alongside Samsung with 54.13 million smartphones sold during the quarter, good enough for a “virtual tie” according to Gartner.

Of the top five manufacturers, Apple fared the best with a year-over-year decline of just 0.4 percent. Annette Zimmermann, research vice president at Gartner, said the launch of the second-gen iPhone SE and an improved business environment in China helped the Cupertino-based company during the quarter.

Global smartphone sales in the second quarter nearly mirrored what we saw in the first quarter, with sales differing by only 0.2 percent.

Image credit: Kwangmoozaa, N.Z.Photography

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86511-smartphone-sales-declined-20-percent-year-over-year.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Basic economics .... when you have zero income coming in it isn't wise to have expenses greater than the income ....

REVISION: Very strange that tonight's news reported that laptops are in a severe shortage and the schools can't get enough of them ..... go figure

 

[brucek]

Personally I think it's good news that more people consider their phone's capabilities sufficient for more than just one or two years of service life.

I'm still very pleased with my iPhone X and I was actually fine with my iPhone 6 before that, I replaced it only because the screen stopped working.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I hope the sales fall even more - except for like say 10% who are power users or their phone is their only device it's just a phone with a few apps and a camera . It cracks me up when someone buys say an I12 with 1TB for say $1500 - when you could get a PS5 +pixel 4a or the cheap Iphone+ cheap laptop/pc for that price - especially when they are not rich and buy on installments . Oh well

 

[p51d007]

I never buy a "new" gen phone. I wait til the end of the model year, and once a new one is announced, the price on last years model drops, pick it up for about 1/2 of the price. Plus, end
of model run usually has fewer bugs both hardware & software, than a typical new model year.

 

[gigantor21]

There's a global pandemic and a recession, and phone sales peaked years ago.

If anything, I'm surprised it hasn't dropped more.

 

[0dium]

I doubt it's the pandemic. Phones got so expensive while not not giving you anything special in return that people more offer don't see a reason to upgrade

 

[SNGX1275]

Turns out when you get laid off you no longer have free money to buy a phone that is marginally better in 'real world' use.

@Uncle Al I've been away from the forums for a long time, so I don't know you and don't know if sarcasm or not. If it was not sarcasm - its because schools and businesses are buying them up for remote learning/work.

 

[Burty117]

I'm not buying another phone over my current OnePlus 7 Pro until something better with a pop out or underscreen camera comes out, notches, hole punches, should never have become a thing in the first place.

It's a real shame OnePlus didn't have the balls to stick with the motorised camera pop out. It's had no reliability issues that I'm aware of and I like it for the security, it pops out when an App uses it so you know if an App is watching you for no apparent reason (Snapchat...)

 

[Endymio]

There's a global pandemic and a recession, and phone sales peaked years ago.

If anything, I'm surprised it hasn't dropped more.

Compared to Q1 this year, they didn't drop at all. They just didn't experience the same Spring surge they did in year's past. The pandemic certainly played a role, but as other posters have pointed out, the lack of compelling upgrade reasons (plus potential buyers stalling for 5G capabilities) I believe were also factors.

 

[Trillionsin]

I am also one who has not upgraded lately. I am on the Note 9. The pandemic had nothing to do with me upgrading or not. Samsung keeps upping the cost if these phones and upgrading is just not worth it. I really wanted a phone with a refresh rate above 60hz, but it's essentially a gimmick to me. I understand it's adaptable and to save battery life, etc, but in my opinion it's not worth the cost that Samsung is demanding. Even considered their preorder deal where you get a $200 credit for additional accessories. Might have done it if they didn't come out with an "ultra" that demands a higher cost. No point in upgrading to the non-ultra version either, IMO. I use to upgrade ever year, especially when they had 2 year upgrade contacts, since then my smart phone purchasing has been slowing down. I'm on a Note 9 and the wife is on a Note 8 and neither of us have a desire to shell out $$$$ for these pricey phones this year. Pandemic or not.