Counterpoint, a market analysis company, has published informace to phone sales in the first quarter of this year. From these, it is quite evident that the covid-19 pandemic has affected sales throughout Europe. Year-on-year, seven percent fewer phones were sold in Europe. In Western Europe, we can see a bigger drop, specifically by nine percent. The reason is that the coronavirus was raging in this area earlier. In Eastern Europe, the situation was completely different, and that is why the markets there recorded a decrease in sales "only" by five percent.
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Phones sold the worst in Italy, where we can see a year-on-year drop of 21 percent. This is not a big surprise as Italy has been hit by the covid-19 pandemic much more than the surrounding countries. In the other countries, sales were lower by around seven to eleven percent. The exception is Russia, where we can see a difference of only one percent. This is also due to the fact that Russia was hit later by the coronavirus and a decrease in sales is expected in the second quarter.
According to Counterpoint, phone sales were saved by internet e-shops, which prepared more aggressive campaigns with bigger discounts. Brick and mortar stores suffered greatly as they were closed in most countries. As for the brands themselves, Samsung is still in first place, holding a 29% market share. He moved to second place again Apple, which has a 21% share. Third place was retained by Huawei with 16 percent, although we can see a massive drop of seven percent. In addition to the coronavirus, the Chinese company also has to contend with an embargo from the US, so Google services, for example, are completely missing from the new devices.
