It is becoming a challenging year for smartphone manufacturers, as sales have plummeted. The sales dropped because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown in many places. People are refusing to buy non-essential products like smartphones, though some may argue about their necessity. We can already see 20.2% in the first quarter of 2020, although in January and February the sales were going pretty strong, we can conclude that the second quarter of the year will be even worse hit. Still trying to cope with this, many manufacturers like Oneplus still managed to release their products and keep the manufacturing up. In contrast, many other players had to drop out and stop their launch, which has also disrupted the supply chain, becoming more and more efficient each year. Latest trends show that Chinese tech giant Xiaomi only showed growth in its sales on the contrary companies such as Huawei showed a sales drop of 27.3%, Samsungs market growth dropped by a staggering
22.7% even after their launch of the new smartphone Samsung Galaxy S20 series, although Apple dropped by 8.2%. reports.
the International Data Corporation showed that the smartphone market suffered its biggest year over year decline in the first quarter, and the next could be even worse even though the market will soon lift. Although Samsung and Huawei sales declined the most, they still hold their respective positions in the global smartphone market at first and second outpacing Apple, Xiaomi, and even Oneplus. Companies with secure online channels will gain back their market share, as seen with Xioami, which still managed to stay afloat because of its stable online channel. Hence companies like Samsung and Oppo are keen to increase their online presence and strengthen this channel.
Huawei has another disadvantage which it has to face. Since Google stopped working with Huawei, they cannot use Google’s version of android. This order was sanctioned by US President trump last year over concerns of national security. Although they have come up with their mobile software called Huawei Mobile services, they still their edge in countries outside China. It has also been cited that slowing innovation in flagship smartphones, and rising prices since 2019 have also contributed to the market’s slow growth in recent years. Companies thought of changing the situation by offering high-end specs in a cheaper phone like the iPhone SE and Samsung A151, but then coronavirus pandemic presented new challenges. Who will want to buy a smartphone when unemployment is at an all-time high all around the world when it is becoming challenging to keep food on the table and roof over their heads.
Smartphone-related companies are facing the same issues in other products, such as laptops and accessories like smartwatches and tablets. Xiaomi will debut its Mi-branded notebook in India. Even after a massive presence in India and occupying an outstanding market share here, Xiaomi hesitated to bring its laptops to India, but it is going t change this year. The upcoming Mi laptop in India is expected to be one of the notebooks that has already been launched in China. However, they will also make a new laptop series to cater to the Indian demands. The company also intends to introduce more products under the Mi brand, like the Internet of Things products and Smart TVs.
