• by Chuck Martin , November 2, 2018

Worldwide shipments of smartphones, still the most dominant of internet-connected devices, declined 6% compared to last year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

The number of smartphones shipped totaled 355 million during the third quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines for the global smartphone market.

Though retaining its market share lead at 20% lead, Samsung was the biggest loser, with shipments of its phones down 13% to 72 million devices and Huawei landed in the second position behind Samsung, shipping 52 million handsets for 15% overall market share.

"The race at the top of the market continues to be a heated one as Huawei once again slipped past Apple to the second position," stated Anthony Scarsella, research manager at IDC. "Although Huawei may have beat out Apple in Q3, the holiday quarter could have Apple as the market leader thanks to the launch of three new bezel-less devices. With the new iPhones, Mate 20, Pixel 3, V40, Note 9 and OnePlus 6T, we can expect consumers will have a plethora of options when upgrade time approaches.”

Apple shipped 47 million devices for 13% market share in the quarter.