By Chuck Martin
Shipments of smartphones globally declined 12% in the first quarter, according to the latest forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Companies shipped 276 million devices in the quarter, for the largest year-over-year decline ever.
Samsung led the market with shipments of 58 million phones, followed by Huawei (49 million), Apple (37 million) and Xiaomi (30 million).
“What started as primarily a supply-side problem initially limited to China has grown into a global economic crisis with the demand-side impact starting to show by the end of the quarter,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s worldwide mobile device trackers. “While the supply chain in China started to recover at end of the quarter, major economies around the world went into complete lockdown causing consumer demand to flatline.”
By first quarter market share, Samsung led at 21% followed by Huawei (18%), Apple (13%) and Xiaomi (11%).
