Canalys: Samsung and Xiaomi see shipment surges in Q2 in Europe

Huawei suffers due to political controversy

Samsung and Xiaomi were the big winners in Europe in the second quarter of 2019, as the only two vendors in the top five to increase their market share and shipments year-on-year.

According to analyst firm Canalys, Samsung’s market share rose to 40.6 per cent, a five-year high and an almost six per cent increase on the same quarter last year. Samsung sold 18.3 million smartphones, compared to 15.3 million in Q2 2018.

The vendor’s new range of A series phones accounted for more than 12 million units, and the top four models in this range, the Galaxy A10, A20e, A40 and A50 together shipped more units in Europe than any other vendor’s entire range of devices.

The top five shipped smartphones were the Samsung Galaxy A50 (3.2 million), the Galaxy A40 (2.2 million), The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (two million), the Galaxy A20e (1.9 million), and the iPhone XR (1.8 million).

Canalys senior analyst Ben Stanton said that Samsung capitalised on Huawei’s cybersecurity controversy and capturing the low- and mid-range section of the market.

“Samsung has been quick to capitalise on Huawei’s US Entity List problems, working behind the scenes to position itself as a stable alternative in conversations with important retailers and operators,” he said. “A lack of brand loyalty among users of low-end and mid-range Android smartphones has become the catalyst for its best performance in years. Europe keeps its reputation as one of the most brand-volatile smartphone markets in the world, rife with danger, but also opportunity.”

Xiaomi grew 48 per cent year-on-year, shipping 4.3 million units compared to last year’s 2.9 million, and increasing its market share from 6.5 per cent to 9.6 per cent.

Canalys analyst Mo Jia said: “Xiaomi is now a major force in Europe. Its core strength remains price-sensitive countries across Europe, in online and open market channels, but it is increasingly being trusted and ranged by important mobile operators. It is not necessarily in the interests of the channel for Samsung to get stronger. If Samsung consolidates its power against a weakened Huawei, it can negotiate harder on margin. For this reason, distributors, retailers and mobile operators are actively seeking alternative brands to fill the gap and reduce their dependence on Samsung.

“Xiaomi did not initially find favor with operators in Western Europe, due it its low channel margin structure, but as smaller brands fade away, the appetite to work with Xiaomi is growing. It has also benefited from its early foray into 5G, which is helping foster new operator partnerships while the range of available 5G smartphones is limited.”

Huawei suffered from its political disputes to see shipments decline 16 per cent to 8.5 million units, and market share fall from 22.4 per cent to 18.8 per cent. Apple retained third place, but saw market share fall from 17 per cent to 14.1 per cent and sales fall from 7.7 million to 6.4 million. HMD Global rounded out the top five with shipments of 1.2 million and a market shared of 2.7 per cent, falling from 1.5 million and 3.2 per cent respectively.