A new report published this week revealed that global smartphone sales dropped almost six percent during the third quarter of 2020. During the same period, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi passed Apple to become the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
According to a report by Gartner, global smartphone sales dropped by nearly six percent in the third quarter of 2020.
Anshul Gupta, a senior researcher at Gartner, argues that the decrease in smartphone sales was likely caused by coronavirus lockdowns, which have forced many consumers to limit their spending.
“Consumers are limiting their discretionary spend even as some lockdown conditions have started to improve,” Gupta said. “Global smartphone sales experienced moderate growth from the second quarter of 2020 to the third quarter. This was due to pent-up demand from previous quarters.”
“Early signs of recovery can be seen in a few markets, including parts of mature Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Near normal conditions in China improved smartphone production to fill in the supply gap in the third quarter which benefited sales to some extent,” Gupta added. “For the first time this year, smartphone sales to end users in three of the top five markets i.e., India, Indonesia and Brazil increased, growing 9.3%, 8.5% and 3.3%, respectively.”
The report also revealed that Apple now trails Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi with regards to market share in the smartphone industry. Previously, Apple occupied the third spot on the list. It was surpassed in the third quarter by Xiaomi, due in part to the delayed shipment of iPhone 12 models.
Breitbart News reported this week on a rumor that Apple may remove the charging port from next year’s line of iPhones. The Silicon Valley giant faced criticism when it removed the headphone port from its smartphones in 2016.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on the tech industry.