According to market research firm Canalys, this will likely continue to dampen the smartphone market for the next six to nine months.

“The smartphone market is highly reactive to consumer demand and vendors are adjusting quickly to the harsh business conditions,” Amber Liu, an analyst at Canalys, said in a statement.

Samsung retained its leading position with a 22 per cent market share driven by heavy promotions to reduce channel inventory.

Apple was the only vendor in the top five to record positive growth, improving its market position further with an 18 per cent share during the market downturn thanks to relatively resilient demand for iPhones.

“For most vendors, the priority is to reduce the risk of inventory building up given deteriorating demand. Vendors had significant stockpiles going into July, but sell-through gradually improveda-from September owing to aggressive discounting and promotions.

“The pricing strategy of new products is cautiously crafted, even for Apple, to avoid significant pushback from consumers who now tend to be very sensitive to any price hike,” Liu added.