Samsung and Xiaomi witness massive gains in European smartphone market

While smartphone sales are hitting a plateau globally, European market is giving Samsung and Xiaomi, some impressive figured. Samsung has reported a 40% market share in Q2 2019 compared to last year’s 33.9% market share in last year’s second quarter, reported Canalys, a tech market research firm. This is Samsung’s highest market share in the past five years with sales of 18.3 million smartphones. Samsung’s Galaxy A10, A20e, A40, and A50 series smartphones account for over 12 million units of the total shipments. Samsung remained the top smartphone vendor with Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi trailing behind.

With the ongoing trade tension between China and the US, Huawei has faced some consequences with a reduction in shipments compared to last year. Huawei sold 8.5 million units in Q2’19 a significant decrease compared to last year’s 10.1 million smartphone shipments. According to Canalys, Huawei’s market share in Europe was 18.8% in Q2’19 while in Q2’18 it was 22.4%.

“Samsung has been quick to capitalize on Huawei’s US Entity List problems, working behind the scenes to position itself as a stable alternative in conversations with important retailers and operators. A lack of brand loyalty among users of low-end and mid-range Android smartphones, which has blighted Samsung for so long, has become the catalyst for its best performance in years,” said Ben Stanton, Canalys Senior Analyst, in a post. Europe keeps its reputation as one of the most brand-volatile smartphone markets in the world, rife with danger, but also opportunity.

Not only Samsung but also Xiaomi is capitalizing on Huawei’s US Entity List problems. Xiaomi is known for providing high-end features in budget-friendly smartphones. The company has reported twice the shipments compared to last year. Xiaomi shipped 4.3 million in Q2’19 with a 9.6% market share. While the previous year, the company shipped only 2.9 million units.

“Xiaomi is now a major force in Europe. Its core strength remains price-sensitive countries across Europe, in online and open market channels, but it is increasingly being trusted and ranged by important mobile operators,” said Mo Jia, Canalys Analyst.

“Xiaomi did not initially find favor with operators in Western Europe, due it its low channel margin structure, but as smaller brands fade away, the appetite to work with Xiaomi is growing. It has also benefited from its early foray into 5G, which is helping foster new operator partnerships while the range of available 5G smartphones is limited,” Jia added.

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