This photo taken on Aug. 7, 2020, shows Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy smartphones displayed at a store in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co. was the world’s top smartphone vendor in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, as the South Korean tech giant racked up modest sales gains in major markets amid the pandemic.
Samsung shipped 80.4 million smartphones in the July-September period, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, to recapture the top spot from China’s Huawei Technologies Co. with a 22.7 percent market share, according to market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC).
In the IDC’s data released in July, Samsung was the No. 2 vendor in the second quarter behind Huawei.
Samsung’s third-quarter performance was buoyed by robust sales in its major markets like India and the United States, IDC said.
“In India, the largest market for Samsung and accounting for 15 percent of total volume, the brand significantly improved its position with close to 40 percent growth on-year thanks to its strong performance in the under US$250 price segment and the online channel where its M series models did quite well,” the market researcher added.
“In the U.S., Samsung’s second-largest market, momentum was strong for the A series with good performances from the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra as well, which contributed to almost 20 percent of total volume in the third quarter of 2020.”
In a conference call Thursday, Samsung said it sold 88 million units of handsets in the third quarter, with more than 90 percent being smartphones.
Huawei was the runner-up after shipping 51.9 million smartphones in the third quarter, down 22 percent from a year earlier, to settle for a 14.7 percent market share.
“The company continues to face challenges due to the ever increasing impact of the U.S. sanctions, which are taking a toll on its performance even in China as the brand is trying to pace out its shipments over a longer period,” the IDC said.
China’s Xiaomi Corp. was the third-largest player with a 13.1 percent market share after shipping 46.5 million smartphones in the third quarter, up 42 percent from a year ago.
Apple dropped to the fourth spot for the first time with a 11.8 percent share after shipping 41.6 million iPhones in the third quarter, down 10.6 percent from a year ago.
The U.S. tech titan’s tepid performance was due to the delay in the launch of its new iPhone 12 series, IDC said.
Vivo Communication Technology Co. came in fifth place with a 8.9 percent market share after shipping 31.5 million smartphones in the third quarter, up 4.2 percent from a year ago.
The IDC said global smartphone shipments declined only 1.3 percent on-year to 353.6 million units in the third quarter, which was better than its previous forecast of a 9 percent on-year decline with the reopening of economies around the globe.
(Yonhap)
