The smartphone market suffered a massive setback in the second quarter as the pandemic shut down Western Europe’s biggest economies. But as new data shows, certain brands have already started to bounce back.
Samsung underperformed, but it was still number 1
A combined 28.8 million smartphones were shipped across Western Europe in the third quarter. Samsung accounted for an impressive 10.3 million units and led the market with a brilliant 35.6% share.
The South Korean company massively outperformed its Chinese rival Huawei, who briefly become the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world earlier this year.
Huawei had an awful quarter in Western Europe
Circling back to Huawei, it’s clear that the impact of US trade sanctions is finally starting to show. That, coupled with a period of reduced economic activity across Europe, resulted in a terrible quarter.It shipped 6.2 million smartphones and was the third most popular brand in Q3 2019. However, in Q3 2020, Huawei slipped down into third place. Market data shows that it only sold 2.5 million devices between July and September. That represents a decline of 58.7% and means it performed 9 times worse than the market average.
To make matters worse, Huawei’s market share fell from 20% to 8.8%.
Huawei P40 Pro
Apple experienced strong iPhone SE & iPhone 11 demand
Specifically, the Tim Cook-led giant shipped 8.2 million iPhones in the quarter ending September. That’s an increase of 0.1 million units versus the equivalent quarter in 2019.
Market share was also up. The brand accounted for 28.5% of all shipments in the region, whereas a year earlier that number stood at 26.4%.
Apple iPhone SE, iPhone 11, and iPhone XR
Xiaomi and Oppo were the real starts last quarter
The biggest winners last quarter were undoubtedly Xiaomi and Oppo. Both brands benefitted from the downfall of fellow Chinese entity Huawei, putting them on a path that could eventually see them seriously challenge both Samsung and Apple.
Xiaomi was the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in Western Europe with sales of 3.7 million units and an impressive 12.8%. Just twelve months earlier, the company recorded 1.5 million shipments and a market share of 4.8%.
Ultimately, the brand experienced a ginormous 151.6% jump in sales across the region.
Oppo Reno 10x Zoom and Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro
Thanks to the introduction of new mid-range models, Oppo managed to ship 900,000 units. That isn’t much in comparison to other brands, but just twelve months earlier sales stood at 100,000.
