Apple on Course to Retake Second Place in Global Smartphone Vendor Ranking

Tuesday October 8, 2019 4:21 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is on course to recapture second place from Huawei in the global smartphone vendor ranking in the fourth quarter of 2019, reports DigiTimes.


The change in ranking is said to be a combined effect of strong sales of Apple's iPhone 11 lineup and the impact of Huawei's trade ban in the United States.

Despite being blacklisted by the U.S. government in the middle of the second quarter this year, Huawei has managed to ship 60 million handsets, which is around the same amount it shipped in the previous quarter, according to data from Gartner.

However, as the trade ban drags on, Huawei is expect to see sales slide over the second half of this year. Gartner estimates that shipments could fall to about 50 million units in the third quarter, before bouncing back to 60 million units going into the holiday period.

According to IDC, Apple shipped 36 million iPhones in Q1 2019. Sales are said to have dropped to 34 million in the second quarter, with an expected slide to 30 million units in Q3 as people waited for Apple's next-generation flagship devices, ‌iPhone 11‌, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

But with reports of higher-than-expected sales of its ‌iPhone 11‌ lineup both domestically and abroad, Apple could see its handset shipments reach 70 million units in the fourth quarter, which would exceed the 60 million units Huawei is expected to ship in Q4 2019.

Related Roundups: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro
Tags: digitimes.com, Huawei
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 11 (Neutral), iPhone 11 Pro (Neutral)
24 comments

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itsmilo
15 weeks ago
Personal experience of course but I feel like „everyone“ in Germany is slowly switching to Huawei unless they got an iPhone from work
Rating: 4 Votes
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realtuner
15 weeks ago


That's cute. Your uni city is not the whole country though.

It's a fact that iPhone penetration is very low in Germany compared to say US or Japan or even China and Australia and has been falling for years, only recently barely trending upwards.



There’s one HUGE flaw with those numbers. They represent device sales, not actual active users.

Someone buying $50 Android phones and throwing them out every 6-12 months (because it’s cheaper to buy another one than to bother fixing it) makes for a lot of sales but does nothing to increase your user base.
Rating: 4 Votes
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GuruZac
15 weeks ago
Boy, this is really a “boring and lackluster” year for iPhone... ? The naysayers have been pretty quiet lately.
Rating: 3 Votes
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RickDEGH
15 weeks ago


Personal experience of course but I feel like „everyone“ in Germany is slowly switching to Huawei unless they got an iPhone from work

No, I don’t think so! In fact, I think the opposite is rather happening. I live in a university city and all I see on buses and trains and on the streets are iPhones. Matter of fact, I know folks who recently switched from Android devices to iPhones. A year ago I hardly ever saw anyone with one of the “notched” iPhones. Now it’s all I see.
Rating: 3 Votes
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m0sher
15 weeks ago
Apple must be doing great this year.

They are slammed with pre orders.

I know this because my Pro Max Oct 1 preorder won’t be shipped until Oct 10-17th *sigh* at least by overnight shipping once it ships.
Rating: 2 Votes
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RickDEGH
15 weeks ago


That's cute. Your uni city is not the whole country though.

It's a fact that iPhone penetration is very low in Germany compared to say US or Japan or even China and Australia and has been falling for years, only recently barely trending upwards.


You do realize that you showed a comparison between iOS = iPhones vs Android = quazillion OEMs? Also, my comment was in direct response to another comment about Huawei and iPhones.
Rating: 2 Votes
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I7guy
15 weeks ago


No wonder Apple is accepting sub-standard screens and lowering their quality control, just get any units on U.S. soil before the tariffs hit.
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Apple has 100% of the market for smartphones that cost $800 and have LCD screens! Winning!

Winning is going to be the quarterly earnings report.
Rating: 1 Votes
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realtuner
15 weeks ago

Apple is on course to recapture second place from Huawei in the global smartphone vendor ranking in the fourth quarter of 2019


Apple is in first place and has been that way since 2010 or so. Only if you add in dirt cheap Android phone sales can Samsung (or Huawei) appear to be winning.
Rating: 1 Votes
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calstanford
15 weeks ago


No, I don’t think so! In fact, I think the opposite is rather happening. I live in a university city and all I see on buses and trains and on the streets are iPhones. Matter of fact, I know folks who recently switched from Android devices to iPhones. A year ago I hardly ever saw anyone with one of the “notched” iPhones. Now it’s all I see.

That's cute. Your uni city is not the whole country though.

It's a fact that iPhone penetration is very low in Germany compared to say US or Japan or even China and Australia and has been falling for years, only recently barely trending upwards.



Rating: 1 Votes
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gnomeisland
15 weeks ago


That's cute. Your uni city is not the whole country though.

It's a fact that iPhone penetration is very low in Germany compared to say US or Japan or even China and Australia and has been falling for years, only recently barely trending upwards.

Just to wade in where I wasn't invited, his point was that iPhone usage is growing, not that it is more common, and not shrinking as your claimed. That is what your chart shows.

Certainly where you are matters a lot. Even here in NYC, an Apple stronghold, I see lots of Android phones in certain neighborhoods, and a few stops later on the subway practically everyone is holding an iPhone.
Rating: 1 Votes
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