Samsung’s Galaxy A51 was world’s second most popular smartphone by shipments in Q1 2020, new industry data reveals. Research from British analytics firm Omdia suggets the mid-ranger came second only to the iPhone 11, Apple’s latest and greatest iOS flagship. The difference is still substantial, with the Galaxy A51’s Q1 shipments amounting to 6.8 million units. That’s a far cry from 19.5 million iPhone 11 shipments Apple is estimated to have managed.
Naturally, the iPhone maker has a much less diversified smartphone portfolio to manage compared to Samsung. At the same time, it’s not like Samsung’s ultra-premium offerings have been doing great; the Galaxy S20 sales have been labeled all sorts of abysmal since the said smartphones released back in February. And that’s in a year wherein Samsung’s arguably largest rival is effectively banned from doing business in the West. Be that as it may, Huawei still managed to seize two spots on the list of the world’s most popular 5G smartphones in Q1 2020. Those went to the Mate 30 5G and Mate 30 Pro 5G which managed 5.6 million shipments combined. Samsung-made devices make the rest of the top five (G).
On the subject of Galaxy S20 series’ performance, only the Galaxy S20+ 5G managed to place in Omdia’s all-around top ten. It did so with 3.5 million shipments, barely above the entry-level Galaxy A30s. The final Samsung device worth pointing out in this category is the even more affordable Galaxy A10s. Coming in at number seven, the low-end Android smartphone managed 3.9 million shipments in Q1 2020.
Galaxy A51’s Q1 shipments a wake-up call for Samsung
By most accounts, the first quarter of the year serves as a wake-up call for Samsung of sorts. Global market instability or not, the Galaxy S20 family failed to maintain the momentum of the range that preceded it. In effect, this is the first Galaxy S generation to manage under 10 million shipments in its debut quarter in nearly a decade. While Samsung continues to blame external factors on this performance, the fact remains that its flagship portfolio is in need of a major overhaul. Though that shouldn’t take away from the success of the Galaxy A51 range, Samsung can’t count on product categories with minuscule profit margins to bail out its heavy-hitters in the long term.
Moving forward, Samsung will have a lot riding on the Galaxy Note 20 family. That’s because the rest of its high-end 2020 mobile portfolio consists of only tablets and foldables. Neither of which are expected to significantly contribute to the company’s bottom line. Then again, the company recently announced intent to refocus its near-term mobile efforts toward non-flagship products.