Compared to the first quarter of 2017, sales of total mobile phones stalled and reached 455 million units in the first quarter of 2018. Nearly 384 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter of 2018, representing 84% of total mobile phones sold.
Samsung's midtier smartphones faced continued competition from Chinese brands, which led to unit sales contraction year on year. This is despite the earlier launch of its flagship Galaxy S9/S9+ compared to the S8/S8+ in 2017, and despite the Note 8 having a positive impact on Samsung sales in the first quarter of 2018. Samsung's smartphone growth rate will remain under pressure through 2018.
The delayed sales boost for Apple from last quarter materialised. Apple's smartphone unit sales returned to growth in the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of 4% year on year.
Huawei's smartphone portfolio helped strengthen its number three global smartphone vendor position.
Research director at Gartner, Anshul Gupta, says: "Achieving 18.3% growth in the first quarter of 2018 helped Huawei close the gap with Apple. However, its future growth increasingly depends on the vendor ramping up share in emerging Asia/Pacific and resolving issues in the US market, through the development of a stronger consumer brand”.
Xiaomi achieved a growth of 124% year on year. Xiaomi's refreshed portfolio of smartphones and aggressive pricing strategy helped it hold the number four spot in the first quarter of 2018.
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Google's Android and Apple's iOS achieved growth in units in the first quarter of 2018, but Android saw its share slightly contract.
