Huawei has started to tumble and Xiaomi is eating up its market share

Samsung is once again number 1 in the smartphone world

The latest Monthly Market Pulse report courtesy of Counterpoint Research reveals that Samsung performed as expected over the summer months and successfully recuperated its smartphone crown in August.

The South Korean company accounted for 22% of all smartphone shipments, a decent increase over the 20% share it held back in April at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Samsung’s rebound can be attributed to the recovery of India's smartphone market in July and August following a nationwide lockdown in the preceding months. The company has performed so well, in fact, that it now holds its highest Indian market share since 2018.

Counterpoint Research says Samsung achieved all of this by adopting an aggressive online channel strategy. It has also benefited from the recent anti-China sentiments in the country.

Those developments, in turn, have negatively affected Chinese players such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo.

Huawei's market share decline sharply over the summer

Huawei followed in second place with a market share of 16% in August. The results are still impressive, but ultimately represent a sharp decline over April when it accounted for 21% of shipments.

The Shenzhen-based company is believed to be performing well in China yet it has lost significant ground in Europe over the past year due to a lack of support for Google services in the region.

With there being no sign of support returning soon, and the fact that Huawei now has a limited ability to manufacture smartphones due to extra US sanctions, the company’s market share will likely continue dropping.

Eventually, a drop is expected in China as well. After all, Huawei is currently surviving on stockpiled on components and it might have to halt smartphone production eventually.

If that happens, Apple and Xiaomi are likely to overtake Huawei. A recent report suggested Huawei could fall down to 7th place as soon as Spring 2021.

Apple remained stable; Xiaomi benefited the most

Apple successfully maintained its market share in the final months of its upgrade cycle. The Silicon Valley-based giant accounted for 12% of all smartphone shipments in August, the exact same market share it held in April.

Counterpoint Research says Apple should experience a significant boost in shipments next month thanks to the later launch of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models. Like Samsung, the company will likely benefit from customers leaving Huawei.

Xiaomi was the biggest winner over the summer, though. With Huawei becoming less popular in Europe each month, the company managed to quickly eat up most of its rival’s market share.

Specifically, Xiaomi accounted for 11% of all smartphone shipments in August, up massively from the 8% it registered in April. That number should continue growing and, with Xiaomi now neck-and-neck with Apple, it may even overtake the latter.

Long-term, Counterpoint Research also expects Oppo to benefit from the demise of Huawei.