Smartphones continue to sell despite the pandemic in 2020. Consequently, a recent report by IDC reveals that budget and mid-range(below $400) smartphones continue to be the star of the show. And, if the predictions are right, the mid to high-end segment will also see a surge going forward.

A study by IDC (International Data Corporation) shows that smartphones in the low to mid-tier segment ($100-400) dominated worldwide shipments with a 60% market share in Q2 2020. This was evident in price-sensitive markets like Asia (excl. Japan&China), Latin America, MEA (Middle East&Africa), and CEE(Central Europe) where 85% of the market belonged to smartphones under $400. In countries like the USA, the market share of devices under $200 rose to 27% in Q2.

The dominance of Chinese companies under $400

That said, according to the report, companies like Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo are the sole contributors. The reason for this could be the value proposition that their devices bring in every segment. Still, premium brands like Apple also seem to have grabbed a scoop of this. Apple’s iPhone SE had a great reception and as a result, the company sold nearly 10 million units in Q2 2020.

Editor’s Pick: Smartphone shipments from Chinese brands could see a double-digit decline in 2H20

Nearly 73% of smartphone shipments in 2020 is expected to be dominated by devices under $400. However, IDC says that the overall value of smartphones will decline by 7.9% which is $422.4 billion from $458.5 billion in 2019.

COVID-19 has resulted in unemployment, and add to this, supply disruption and delay in manufacturing during Q2 meant the industry had to adapt to a new normal. Hence, affordable smartphones took the center stage and if reports are true, the shipments are expected to grow further and reach 63% in 2021.

Prospects of the mid-to-high-end segment

The mid-to-high-end devices($400-600) clocked a share of 11.6% in Q2 2020. Nabila Popal, Research Director at IDC says, ” IDC expects the fastest growth will be in $400-600 as 5G sales grow and average price drops to $465 by 2024″.

Up Next: Canalys predicts global 5G smartphone shipments will reach 278 million this year

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Smartphone manufacturers are increasingly adopting OLED displays instead of LCD panels for their devices. It is growing at such a rapid pace that it does not only surpass other technologies but will also have a lasting lead.

Now, a new report coming from UBI Research reveals that China has emerged as the largest buyer of OLED display panels for smartphones in the second quarter of this year, with 52.5 percent of the total volume.

In comparison, South Korea’s volume for the second quarter of this year stands at 35 percent. The United States, on the other hand, managed to get 8.3 percent of the volume. Companies in China purchased around 30.4 million units of OLED panels in total.

This is quite an unexpected development given that it’s usually Samsung Electronics which procures the most OLED panels. It has always been leading the list and this is the first time that Chinese companies bought more panels in a quarter.

Looking at the Chinese companies, Huawei was the leading brand to source OLED panels for smartphones, accounting for 53.4 percent. It was followed by OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi which accounted for 18.6 percent, 14.8 percent, and 8.3 percent.

EDITOR’S PICK: Huawei to reportedly produce just 50 million smartphones in 2021, a 74% decline to its expected shipments this year

However, it doesn’t seem to be a one-time thing for Chinese companies. The report adds that going forward, the China-based OLED panel makers will continue to increase their production volume. But it will be interesting to see how this works out given that Huawei has now significantly lowered its smartphone production for next year to just 50 million.

When compared to LCD panels, OLED is preferred due to its thin and light form factor as well as better color performance. Another major factor is that OLED enables flexible display form factor, allowing manufacturers to go ahead with innovative designs.

Along with leading smartphone brands like Samsung, Huawei, and Apple, other companies like OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, and more are increasingly adopting OLED panels for their smartphones. Thus the display manufacturing industry is gearing up to expand AMOLED capacity for both rigid and flexible OLED.

UP NEXT: Realme 7i retailer listing reveals two color variants and key features

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The recent quarter has not been good in terms of smartphone shipments because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic not only led to a drop in smartphone shipments but has also impacted the shipment for components.

As per the latest report from UBI Research, the shipment of the OLED display panels for smartphones dropped to 87 million units in the second quarter of this year. This represents a drop of 23.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

EDITOR’S PICK: Huawei to announce Kirin 9000 flagship chipset at IFA 2020 on September 3rd along with Mate40 series smartphones

Compared to the first-quarter data, the numbers for Q2 2020 report a 17 percent decline. It represents a year-on-year decline of around 40.3 percent for the OLED panels in the second quarter, claims the report.

While the shipments for OLED panels declined, it was somewhat offset by the growth in flexible OLED panels. The same report reveals that the shipments for flexible OLED displays grew by 38 percent compared to last year.

The report notes that the drop in the shipments of rigid OLED panels is a result of less number of mid-range smartphones getting launched from the Chinese brands in the second quarter of this year. Since they focused more on flagship-grade devices, the shipments for flexible OLED panels witnessed growth.

UP NEXT: “Smooth Scrolling” feature is being rolled out to certain Realme devices

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According to the latest report published by Strategy Analytics, the notebook devices or the mobile productivity devices registered a 27 percent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of this year.

The growth in demand is being attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced consumers, companies, and schools to purchase such devices as the majority of them started operating through Work from Home model.

EDITOR’S PICK: Redmi G Gaming Laptop launches with 144Hz display, Core i7-10750H, GTX 1650 Ti, and more

Interestingly, two leading companies in this segment — Lenovo and HP controlled almost 50 percent of the market share in Q2 2020. As per the report, Lenovo accounted for 25 percent of the share, taking the pole position, while HP managed to grab a 24.8 percent market share in the second quarter.

On the other hand, brands like Dell, Apple, and Acer were ranked third, fourth, and fifth in terms of global notebook shipments, with a market share of 15.6 percent, 8.5 percent, and 6.7 percent respectively.

The report reveals that there was robust demand from consumers, who mostly purchased devices for work, studying, and playing games. Chromebooks also witnessed high demand, mostly from schools and consumers to support e-learning efforts. It remains to be seen if this pandemic-induced demand continues or slows down in upcoming quarters.

UP NEXT: Samsung could partly shift its smartphone production to India; plans to make devices worth $40 billion

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In the second quarter of this year in China, while Huawei continued dominating the local smartphone market, Apple has seen a surge in demand for iPhones. As per the report, the company has witnessed a 225 percent quarterly growth in sales volume.

The reason is being attributed to price cuts as the Chinese market is slowing recovering from weak demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the quarter that ended in June, Apple sold 13 million units of iPhone in China, reports research firm CINNO.

The numbers represent an increase of four million units compared to the previous quarter. A recent report from Counterpoint Research claims that Apple was the fastest-growing major smartphone brand in China for the second quarter, with 32 percent growth.

EDITOR’S PICK: India smartphone market declined by 48% in Q2 2020, Realme slipped to the fifth position

For Apple, Greater China, including Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, is the third-largest geographical market, after America and Europe. In the first three months that ended March 28, the company recorded total China sales of $9.46 billion, showing a decline of $1 billion from a year ago, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Q2 2020, Apple was the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in China, behind Huawei, Vivo, and OPPO but ahead of Xiaomi, reports Counterpoint. Huawei, combined with Honor, has captured around 46 percent of China’s smartphone market.

At the height of COVID-19, Chinese smartphone sales declined 22 percent in the first quarter. The market is now slowing recovering and research firm CINNO estimates that smartphone sales in China have reached 94 million units in June.

UP NEXT: Huawei overtakes Samsung to become the leading smartphone brand globally in Q2 2020

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Samsung has been dominating the smartphone market worldwide and has been a leader for the past many years. Well, that has now changed, at least for the second quarter of this year. According to the report from Canalys, Huawei has overtaken Samsung to become the leading smartphone brand globally in Q2 2020.

This is an impressive performance from Huawei, which managed to become the world’s leading smartphone brand in terms of shipments, despite being banned in the United States and facing heat in other markets.

The report adds that for the period of April 2020 to June 2020, Huawei shipped 55.8 million units. On the other hand, Samsung managed to ship 53.7 million units. This shows how strong is Huawei’s foothold in its home market.

Huawei’s two-third smartphones are being sold in its home market, China. Also, Huawei, along with its sub-brand Honor, is dominating the Chinese smartphone market, capturing almost half of the market.

The company has around 46 percent of the market share in China, which is more than the combined total of Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi in the Chinese market. This is the highest market share for Huawei ever in China.

EDITOR’S PICK: OPPO unveils World’s Fastest 125W Flash Wired Charging and 65W AirVOOC Wireless Charging

Globally, the sales of Huawei devices fell by 5 percent compared to the same period last year, but Samsung registered a 30 percent drop in sales for the same duration. This is likely because of weak demand in markets like the United States, Europe, and Brazil.

Recently, Huawei revealed that its revenue in the first half of this year grew 13.1 percent compared to the same period last year. The company managed to grow, despite the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions from the United States.

It remains to be seen if Huawei manages to hold on to this leading smartphone position for the upcoming quarter as well. Samsung has new premium smartphones lined up for launch in the coming days and the company is also releasing mid-ranges devices at regular intervals, as it aims to grow its market share.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi makes changes to its leadership; Lin Bin leaves the mobile division

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Samsung had been dominating the Indian smartphone market for many years, but the was outperformed by Xiaomi, which has been holding the lead position in the Indian smartphone market for several quarters now.

In the last quarter ending in March, i.e. Q1 2020, the South Korean giant had slipped to the third position in India, after Xiaomi and Vivo. But the company has managed to come back to the second position. Not only that, but the company has also made substantial growth and is closing the gap to again become the leading brand.

According to the data released by Counterpoint Research, Samsung grabbed 26 percent of the Indian smartphone maker share in Q2 2020, just three percent short of Xiaomi, which holds a 29 percent market share.

The numbers show major improvements for Samsung, which, according to IDC, had a 15.6 percent market share in Q1 2020. Samsung had almost half the market share of Xiaomi, which led the market with a 31.2 percent share.

In Q2 2020, Vivo, Realme, and OPPO stood at third, fourth, and fifth position with 17 percent, 11 percent, and 9 percent market share, respectively. In the top five smartphone brands, Samsung is the only non-Chinese company.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi CEO hints at an in-person launch event for Mi 10 Pro Plus

However, the report notes that the shipments for Samsung in Q2 2020 halved to just 18 million units, mainly because of the nation-wide lockdown for over two months as an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. To compare, the company had shipped over 31 million units in Q1 2020.

In the premium and ultra-premium smartphone segments, OnePlus and Apple grabs the lead position respectively. However, none of them made it to the top five smartphone brands in the market in the second quarter.

Samsung is at an advantage in the Indian market and it won’t be surprising if the company again becomes the leading smartphone brand in this quarter because of the anti-Chinese sentiments in India.

UP NEXT: Samsung Galaxy A42 4G/5G spotted on 3C certification portal with 5,000mAh EB-BA426ABY battery

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In its forecast for the current quarter, leading smartphone chipset maker Qualcomm says that the world’s biggest smartphone market — China is returning to normal levels in terms of demand after the coronavirus outbreak.

The company predicts that it will generate about $4.4 billion to $5.2 billion in revenue for the second quarter of the year, i.e. Q2 2020. Qualcomm’s CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that the demand is “very close to the level it would be normally but the mix of 5G is better than we expected.”

Smartphone sales in China plummeted an unprecedented 22 percent during the first quarter after the COVID-19 outbreak forced companies to shut down their stores and production and supply chain were also compromised. But Steve Mollenkopf says that the issue has largely been fixed and future sales will depend on consumer spending levels.

While Qualcomm originally expected to ship about 175 billion to 185 billion modems in 2020, it’s no longer providing total market predictions. The company also said that it expects the smartphone industry to ship 30 percent fewer phones in the June quarter because of the COVID-19 crisis.

EDITOR’S PICK: 5G chipsets capture 2% market share in 2019, Qualcomm and HiSilicon are major contributors: Report

However, the company adds that there will be relatively strong demand for 5G smartphones across 2020. This contradicts Strategy Analytics report which claims that 5G smartphone shipments will be lower in 2020 than originally anticipated.

Qualcomm has reported fiscal second-quarter revenue increase by 4.7 percent to $5.2 billion. This is in line with the company’s earlier forecast and has topped estimates. Net income for the company fell to $468 million from $663 million a year earlier.

The response of the Chinese market after the COVID-19 pandemic about how quickly it can get back on its feet is vital as it gives indication about how the European and North American market will emerge after the pandemic.

UP NEXT: Qualcomm announces a new Quick Charge 3+ technology for more affordable devices

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