Huawei has taken the biggest hit to its smartphone sales in Europe among the top vendors, probably due to the sanctions placed on it by the US, the technology analyst firm Counterpoint Research says.
As the European smartphone market shrank by 7% in the first quarter of 2020, Huawei saw its share of the overall market fall to 16% from 23% a year earlier.
The biggest beneficiary from Huawei's misery was fellow Chinese phone maker Xiaomi which saw its market share zoom from 4% in the first quarter of 2019 to 11% in the first quarter of the current year.
Apple's sales stayed more or less constant, with 21% in 2019 and 22% this year, while Samsung kept the top spot (29% in 2020 compared to 31% in 2019).
Research analyst Abhilash Kumar said: "Huawei declined a sharp 43% YoY for the quarter as the US trade sanctions continue to bite.
“Xiaomi has been the biggest beneficiary from Huawei’s decline as it grew 145% YoY capturing 11% share in the quarter.”
Among European countries, the worst affected as far as smartphone sales went was Italy which saw its market drop by 21% year-on-year.
Counterpoint's Peter Richardson said the first quarter was generally weak anyway but the coronavirus had magnified this.
“The smartphone market decline was primarily due to COVID-19 outbreak across the region in the second half of the quarter," he said.
"The biggest five markets in Europe entered lockdowns of varying severity at different points in March.
"Consequently, most of the offline stores were closed, though online remained open throughout.
"Also, the economic impact of the pandemic has led to lengthening replacement cycles as consumers withhold making discretionary purchases.”
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