The COVID-19 pandemic severely dented the smartphone business as sales dropped 20 percent throughout the world during Q2 2020. Despite a sharp fall in sales, Samsung remained the number one smartphone brand in the world. However, Huawei, which managed to topple Samsung from its top position in April, was a close second.
According to a new report from the research firm Gartner, Samsung managed to sell 54.75 million smartphone units during the second quarter of 2020, capturing an 18.6% share of the market. However, the company's sales dropped by 27.1% compared to Q2 2019. Huawei, on the other hand, sold 54.12 million units and captured an 18.4% share of the global smartphone market, a 6.8% drop from Q2 of 2019.
Apple's sales dropped the least during the pandemic. The company sold 38.38 million iPhones during the second quarter to capture a 13% share of the smartphone market, a drop of just 0.4% compared to Q2 2019. Xiaomi and OPPO sold 26.09 million and 23.61 million units, respectively. Xiaomi's market share during Q2 2020 stood at 8.9%, while OPPO's market share was 8%.
294.66 million smartphones were sold worldwide during Q2 2020. The top five brands captured Two-thirds of all smartphone sales. Anshul Gupta, Senior Research Director at Gartner, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic continued to negatively affect Samsung's performance in the second quarter of 2020. Demand for its flagship S Series smartphones did little to revive its smartphone sales globally.”
