According to a new report, global shipments of smartphones in 2020 will drop significantly by 8.8%. During this period, mobile phone shipments only reached 1.24 billion units, and the main reason for the decline was the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a DigiTimes report, the virus outbreak seems to paralyze the market. Despite the overall decline in smartphone shipments, 5G-enabled mobile phones have grown substantially, with shipments reaching 28 to 300 million units last year.
This is an increase from 20 million units in 2019, which is an increase of more than ten times in a single year.
In the first quarter of 2020, global smartphone shipments fell by more than 20% year-on-year. By the second quarter, the double-digit decline dropped rapidly, and in the third quarter, the market recovered further and shipments fell by only one digit.
It is worth noting that shipments in the fourth and final quarter increased by single digits, which indicates that global consumer demand for smart phones has been suppressed.
The DigiTimes research report also added that by 2020, the top six major brands in the market include Samsung Electronics, Apple, Huawei technologies, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. Among all these OEMs, Apple and Xiaomi managed to increase their respective shipments by more than 10% each year.
On the other hand, brands such as Samsung and Huawei faced double-digit declines in their shipments during the same period.
