Smartphone sales contracted slightly in the third quarter, revealing that as some companies such as Apple Inc. continue to lose market share, both Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. managed to increase both sales and market share.

That’s according to new figures released today by Gartner. The research firm said 387.4 million smart phones were shipped in the quarter.

Samsung maintained its market-leading position with 79 million phones shipped for a 20.4% market share. Samsung’s share was up from 18.9% in the third quarter of 2018 but was identical in the second quarter of this year.

Huawei, despite being banned from accessing U.S. technology and now forced to ship phones without an officially licensed version of Android, shipped 65.8 million units in the quarter, up from 58 million in the second quarter and 52 million a year ago, for a 17% market share. By comparison, Huawei had a 15.8% market share in the second quarter and 13.4% at the same time last year. Huawei first became the world’s second-largest seller of smartphones in the second quarter of 2018, a position it seems set to maintain despite its ongoing U.S.-China trade war-related issues.

Apple continued to bleed sales and market share in the quarter from last year, booking 40.8 million sales for a 10.5% global market share. While down from 45.7 million units and an 11.8% market share in the same quarter of 2018 there is some relief for the company: The figure is up slightly from the 38.5 million units it shipped in the second quarter.

Beyond the top three, Xiaomi Inc. saw a small decline in sales year-over-year to 32.2 million units with an 8.3% market share, down from 33.2 million units and an 8.5% market share a year ago. Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. rounded out the top five with 30.8 million units and an 8.0% market share, up slightly from a year ago.

“While the ban on Huawei to access key U.S. technologies is yet to be fully implemented as a three-month extension was just announced, the proposed ban brought negativity around Huawei’s brand in the international market,” Gartner said in a statement. “Nevertheless, Huawei’s strong ecosystem in China continued to show growth. The current situation with the U.S. has also fostered patriotism among Huawei’s partners, which are now keener to promote its smartphones in China — a development that makes it difficult for local competitors to compete aggressively against Huawei.”

The strength of Huawei and the relative decline of Apple sales does directly relate to the U.S.-China trade war. Apple was once a huge status symbol in mainland China but the tension between the two countries has prompted strong support for Huawei over Apple’s iPhone line.

Gartner is positive on its predictions for the fourth quarter, noting that with Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday sales approaching, smartphone deals are likely to spur consumer demand.

Photo: Pxhere