IDC: Smartphone shipments dropped nearly 12 percent

Smartphone shipments fell 11.7 percent last quarter, according to market research firm IDC. This makes it the largest drop in smartphone deliveries to date. Samsung and Huawei received the biggest blows, according to the analyst firm.

Samsung remains the market leader, but delivered almost 19 percent fewer smartphones, according to IDC. The industry leader kept its profitability high due to the high prices of its Galaxy S20 phones. Huawei remained in second place despite being unable to release new phones with Google services for almost a year. Price reductions of the P30 and Mate 30 led to additional deliveries, according to the analyst firm.

Apple remained about the same in third place, while Xiaomi delivered more smartphones, just like the Chinese brand Vivo. Vivo is affiliated with the brands OnePlus and Oppo in the west. Vivo has mainly delivered many copies in India.

The coronavirus outbreak first caused problems for smartphone production due to the lockdown in China at the end of January, but from March demand in western countries fell due to the outbreak, says IDC. Almost all manufacturers no longer publish exact figures about deliveries of smartphones.