European smartphone shipments fell an unprecedented 6.3 percent year on year in the first 3 months of 2018, the largest ever single quarter decline, according to a report from Canalys. Western Europe fell the most, down 13.9 percent with 30.1 million units shipped, led by falls of 29.6 percent, 23.2 percent and 16.7 percent in the UK, France and Germany, according Telecompaper. Central and Eastern Europe, on the other hand, posted a 12.3 percent year on year growth with 15.9 million units shipped, driven by a 25.4 percent annual rise in Russia.
In terms of vendors, Samsung remained on top with sales of 15 million smartphones, but fell 15 percent year on year due to pressure from Huawei and Xiaomi on its low-end and mid-range models. Apple outperformed the market and shipped over 10 million units, but this still represented a 5.4 percent decline. Huawei continued as the third-largest vendor, growing 38.6 percent year on year and shipping 7.4 million units in the quarter, said the report, adding that Samsung, Apple and Huawei have grown their collective share of Europe from 61.0 percent in Q1 2014 to 71.4 percent in Q1 2018.
The quarter also saw Xiaomi and Nokia, under HMD Global, storming to fourth and fifth place in the vendor ranking. Xiaomi shipped some 2.4 million smartphones in Europe in the first 3 months of 2018, more than 10 times the amount it sold in Q1 2017, to reach a market share of 5.3 percent, according Telecompaper. Nokia, meanwhile, reached 3.5 percent of the market with 1.6 million units shipped.
