Apple iPhone shipments slumped in Q1 due to coronavirus, Gartner says

Global shipments of Apple's iPhone suffered a year-over-year decline in the first quarter of 2020, but the downturn was not as severe as dips felt by other major smartphone manufacturers during a period impacted by fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the latest estimates from Gartner, Apple shipped 40.9 million iPhone units during the three-month period ending in March. The figure represented 13.7% of the global smartphone market, down 8.9% from the year ago quarter.

"Apple had a strong start to the year thanks to its new product line up that saw strong momentum globally. If COVID-19 did not happen, the vendor would have likely seen its iPhone sales reached record level in the quarter. Supply chain disruptions and declining consumer spending put a halt to this positive trend in February," said Annette Zimmermann, research vice president at Gartner. "Apple's ability to serve clients via its online stores and its production returning to near normal levels at the end of March helped recover some of the early positive momentum."

In reporting earnings for its second fiscal quarter of 2020, Apple in May noted iPhone generated $28.96 billion in revenue for the period, down from $31 billion in 2019. The slump was blamed on COVID-19, which wreaked havoc on iPhone's supply chain and led to decreased demand in key segments like China.

Top-two vendors Samsung and Huawei experienced major disruptions to their respective handset businesses. The Korean tech giant shipped an estimated 53.3 million units for an 18.5% slice of the pie, down 22.7% year-over-year. Huawei saw the sharpest drop in the top-five, as it shipped 42.5 million smartphones for a 14.2% marketshare, down 27.3% from the same time last year.

Fourth-place Xiaomi eked out growth during the tough quarter on shipments of 27.8 million units for a 9.3% stake, up 1.4% from 2019. Oppo, which came in fifth overall, saw its share of the market shrink from 38.2% to 36.3% on shipments of 108,621 units, down 24.2% year-over-year.

Overall, the smartphone market dipped 20% from last March.

It should be noted that firms like Gartner do not have insight into Apple's supply or retail chains and provide estimates based on independent research. The methodology, and more importantly results, of market research firms have been brought into question in the past, with Apple executives dismissing the data as largely incorrect.

4 Comments

chasm 3590 comments · 10 Years

About 4 years ago

I really appreciate the disclaimer, but I think it should be at the top, rather than the bottom, of the article. And while I'm kvetching, I hate headlines that state unproven analyst speculation as fact. Just the word "Gartner:" at the front would have told me how credible the analyst report was going to be. :wink:

That said, Apple has already warned that the real impact of the pandemic will show up in the current quarter rather than the last one, where iPhones sales dipped only modestly. The June quarter is traditionally a difficult one for iPhones, given that the sales-cycle has moved past the halfway point, but this one is likely going to be a sharper year-over-year drop due to outside events, from the pandemic to the current crises in many of Apple's strongest markets.

Hopefully the alleged uptick in iPads and the phenomenal growth of services will help make up for some of the iPhone drop, not to mention Macs (which Cook and Maestri already said would do better this quarter than last).

So really, all Gartner is doing here is taking what's already been said and spinning it in their usual negative way. All their other figures for other companies are similarly made up (and they have the miserable track record to prove it), but they at least have some shipment (not end-user sales) data to work from. In short, I've given Gartner's report more attention than anyone else should. :smile:

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

About 4 years ago

Only accurate statement in this article is the pandemic affected Apple's sales, beyond this all the numbers are just made up.

davgreg 1046 comments · 9 Years

About 4 years ago

We will see.
The world economy has been edging toward recession prior to the broad spread of COVID-19. The Spring Quarter should be more heavily impacted.

I bought the new iPad Pro 12.9 and the Keyboard, but will not be buying a replacement iPhone until the Fall at earliest.

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