Samsung and Huawei lead the way for global 5G smartphone shipments in Q1 2020

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5G was one of the emerging trends in the smartphone industry last year. While Samsung had a strong start and dominated the global 5G smartphone market, Huawei managed an early lead before the year concluded, primarily from the high demand for 5G phones in China.

According to The Korean Herald, Samsung is making a comeback, shipping the most 5G phones in Q1 2020. Samsung shipped 8.3 million units out of the total 24.1 million 5G handsets shipped this quarter. This works out to around 34.1 percent of the total market share. Huawei came in a close second, selling 8 million units between January and March, which works out to 33.2 percent of the total market share.

In 2019, Huawei shipped about 6.9 million 5G smartphones globally, slightly ahead of Samsung, which sold 6.7 million units. Samsung and Huawei currently account for the highest market share in the smartphone industry. While Apple may be the third-largest smartphone brand, the company does not sell 5G phones.

Vivo followed Samsung and Huawei with the third-largest market share, selling 2.9 million units in Q1 2020, accounting for 12 percent of the pie. Xiaomi (2.5 million units) accounted for 10.4 percent of the total market share, while OPPO managed 5 percent with 1.2 million units sold. All the other players in this segment only managed a combined total of around 1.2 million units shipped (5 percent).

Smartphone shipments, in general, are set to fall in Q2, 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic is having an adverse effect on overall production and sales across the board.