Yesterday we witnessed a historical event. For the first time in its nine years of existence, sales of the iPhone, Apple's flagship product, fell. A decline clearly staged by the 10 million fewer terminals sold in the first four months of this year compared to 2015, and which translates into a 16% drop.
However, and despite the fact that there are brands such as Huawei that continue to grow in the market, it seems that the results of Apple and its iPhone are still a trend present in most mobile phone manufacturers, and that today it is preying on Sony, whose sales have plummeted 20%.
Based on the results of the different brands, we can affirm that the smartphone market is in a process of contraction. According to a study by the analyst Strategy Analytics, the sale of mobile phones has fallen by 3% globally, from 345 million devices sold in the first quarter of 2015 to 334 million in the first three months of this year. An unprecedented fact in the era of modern mobiles that began in 1999 with Blackberry.
And it seems that the answer to this contraction can be found in China, as well as in consumer concerns about the future of the global economy. Although according to some the responsibility also lies in the little innovation of the brands, which have been accommodated.
Analysts already warned a year ago that sales would freeze in China, a country that in recent times has been the engine of growth in the mobile phone market. Figures that were maintained even in the last quarter of the year, where sales tend to increase and that last year did not alleviate the situation, something that had not happened since 2008.
Even the largest manufacturer in the sector, Samsung, has seen the number of devices it manages to place on the market drop. In this case, the fall was less than for Apple and Sony, and the decrease was 4%, and almost 80 million smartphones sold in this first quarter of the year. In this case, the cushion that has allowed the South Korean company to relativize its results has been the good acceptance of its flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7, but also the mid-range J-series models. However, the launch of the iPhone SE by Apple (second manufacturer that sells the most), has not had the expected acceptance and therefore its situation is even worse.
In a very different position is the third most important smartphone brand, Huawei, which continues to grow year after year. This first quarter has increased its sales by 8%, 3 points above the numbers obtained in the first three months of last year.
The other brand that is saved is Oppo, which already occupies the fourth position in the sales ranking thanks to the 15.5 million phones placed on the market.
We will have to be aware of the next data although it seems that we are facing a turning point in the era of modern telephones.
