Smack of the mobile industry. Mobile phone sales in the second quarter were down 20.4% compared to last year, reaching 295 million units. The reception of Apple iPhone terminals remained , however, moderately stable, while other manufacturers such as Samsung experienced a double-digit year-on-year reduction.
This is clear from the latest report from the consulting firm Gartner, which states that Samsung’s sales fell by 27.1% year-on-year, being the manufacturer most affected during this period, which has coincided with the highest data on people infected by Covid-19 coronavirus at the level world. Huawei reduced its sales by 6.8%. Two other Chinese firms, Xiaomi and Oppo, posted losses of 21.5% and 15.9%, respectively.
Containment measures for the coronavirus have drastically affected the purchase of new devices. In the main markets, except in China, blockades and a reduction in mobility among citizens have been maintained, which has caused consumers to decide to wait until another time to renew their mobiles. “The better situation in China made demand rebound in the quarter,” Anshul Gupta , research director at Gartner , said in a statement .
Apple’s sales fell just 0.4% year-over-year, driven by the good reception of the iPhone SE , a particularly attractive model because it offers the same high-end processor as the iPhone 11 at half the price. Samsung sold about 55 million “smartphones” in the second quarter. A figure that represents a decrease of 27.1% compared to the previous year.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to negatively affect Samsung’s performance in the second quarter,” he says. “Demand for its flagship Galaxy S family has had little effect in reviving its smartphone sales globally.”
“Travel restrictions, store closures and less consumption of non-essential products during the pandemic have led to a second quarterly decline in smartphone sales this year,” he explains . Despite an increase in demand in this period, phone sales in China declined 7%, with almost 94 million units sold. India, which adopted rigorous blackout methods (including restricting e-commerce), saw the steepest drop (-46%) among the world’s top five countries
