Samsung still leads the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2019

Canalys and Strategy Analytics have released the results of their latest worldwide smartphone market research, which pertains to 3Q2019. The 2 companies have managed not to derive the exact same final figures on the same basic subject: for example, Strategy Analytics concludes that OPPO sold 29.4 million units, whereas Canalys estimated that it sold 32 million in the same quarter.

However, they agree on the point that the top 5 smartphone OEMs in the world have not changed since 3Q2018. They remain in the following order: Samsung, Huawei, Apple, Xiaomi and OPPO. Canalys has found that the #1 manufacturer increased its shipments by 8% YoY, whereas Strategy Analytics asserts that this increase was 11%.

However, they both report that Huawei grew in this respect by an impressive 29% - the highest YoY sales increase of these top-ranked OEMs. In addition, the groups have a consensus that Samsung maintained its top spot through the success of the new, cost-effective Galaxy A line of phones.

Meanwhile, Apple's shipments are thought to have fallen YoY in this quarter (by 7% in Canalys' estimation and by 3% in that of Strategy Analytics). Canalys believes that this is due to weak sales of the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max in September. It will be interesting to see whether their successors can improve things for the Cupertino giant or not next year.