Share of smartphone shipments in Europe 2015-2021, by vendor

Samsung and Apple's time as the unchallenged leaders of the European smartphone market has come to an end, according to the breakdown of smartphone shipments in Europe by vendor. Huawei's share of the market grew from just two percent in the first quarter of 2015, to 20 percent in the first quarter of 2020, but is in the first quarter of 2021 back at just four percent of the market share. Instead, Xiaomi has grown from four percent in the first quarter of 2019 to 18 percent in the first quarter of 2021, playing the company third behind Apple and Samsung in Europe. In the first quarter of 2020, Apple obtained 28 percent of the European market, making it their best first quarter during the demonstrated period.

Smartphones make up the primary component of the European mobile phone market, with smartphone penetration reaching 67.3 percent in 2018.

Leading manufacturers maintain their share.

While the total share of the European market held by Samsung and Apple has fluctuated during this time, they still accounted for more than 50 percent of the total market in the first quarter of 2021. Rather than the larger manufacturers, it has been the smaller manufacturers such as LG, ZTE and Lenovo that have seen their share of shipments decline. Since the third quarter of 2020, Huawei’s share has dropped significantly as well.

Huawei’s growth globally

Huawei’s previous growth was not just limited to Europe, with the company increasing the total number of handsets shipped to 55.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020, to obtain a 20 percent share of the global smartphone market. However, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Huawei’s total number of shipments dropped to 32.3 million, leaving them with 8.4 percent of the European market.