This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
Despite a global storm surrounding its blacklisting by the US government, Huawei's strong sales of its devices on its home soil helped the company register positive numbers in the second quarter of 2019.
According to data from research firm Canalys, Huawei shipped 37.3 million smartphones in the three months, securing a 38% market share in China and cementing its position as the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world, after Samsung.
Apple, which previously held the position, saw its fortunes decline with a drop in global market share to just under 10% due to lower shipments of its iPhones compared to a similar period last year.
Of the top 5 smartphone makers, Apple was the only one to register a drop year-over-year, with a 13% decline in shipments.
Canalys noted that Apple's iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max were not differentiated enough to prompt its expanding installed base of customers to upgrade, while recent price cuts and an increased rate of trade-in had not been enough to offset the decline.
However, the silver lining for Apple was its mid-range iPhone, the iPhone XR, which accounted for 37.5% of the Cupertino-based company's shipments in May.
Samsung shipped 76.9 million smartphone units in Q2 2019, an increase of 6% from a similar period in 2018, with over half of its shipments coming from the new Galaxy A lineup.
According to Canalys, Samsung's decision to ditch its Galaxy J series of budget devices in favor of a more revamped Galaxy A series paid early dividends in the quarter, allowing the Korean smartphone maker to get back at Chinese device makers Huawei, Xiaomi, and Oppo who had previously encroached on markets it once dominated.
As Huawei faced troubles with the Western world over security concerns, the company ceded some of its market share in Europe, with Samsung being the biggest beneficiary, according to Canalys.
Overall, 331.8 million smartphone units were shipped in Q2 2019, a drop of 2% from the 339.7 million shipped in Q2 2018.
