Smartphone sales sink in the third quarter - led by Samsung

Global smartphone market falls by six per cent - led by Samsung, down 13.4 per cent

The smartphone boom is well and truly over, if third-quarter figures from the box counters at IDC is any guide.

According to IDC, smartphone sales dropped six per cent in the third quarter, with 335.2 million handsets shipped.

The biggest loser in terms of sales, though, was Samsung, which experienced a decline of 13.4 per cent in smartphone sales, which is a big deal given it accounts for around one-fifth of the market as a whole.

Taking a bigger-picture view, China is another area where long-term trends mean looming challenges for smartphone makers. For the sixth consecutive quarter, shipments were down in a country that represents one-third of all global sales.

It wasn't all bad, though. Huawei shifted 52 million units compared to 39.1 million this time last year. That comes despite the bad press that Huawei has been subjected to over the past year, culminating in it being frozen out of the US market.

That was enough to keep it in second place overall, just ahead of Apple, which shifted 46.9 million units - a modest 200,000 improvement on the third quarter of 2017. Up-and-coming Xiaomi rounded out the top four, shifting 34.3 million phones: a decent rise from the 28.3 million it sold a year ago.

While it's pretty clear we're finally close to market saturation, and it's hard to think of a time when new smartphones offered that genuine ‘wow factor', there are reasons to think this may be a bit of a blip.

First, the fourth quarter will see launches of a number of heavy-hitting new smartphones. And new iPhones, the Huawei Mate 20, Google Pixel 3 and the OnePlus 6T have all just arrived, too.

Second, next year will see the first roll-outs of 5G services, while in 2020 this trend will accelerate. These roll-outs will be accompanied by new devices capable of taking advantage of the new features 5G networks ought to be able to offer.

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