The sale of Google's Pixel series phones grew 52% YoY in 2019 and the company now ships more devices than Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, market research firm IDC has claimed. 

According to Associate VP for EMEA Devices at IDC, Francisco Jeronimo, Google continues to expand the Pixel portfolio and sales are growing.

In 2019 shipments grew 52% YoY to reach the highest volume ever, with strong performances in the USA, Western Europe and Japan regions, Jeronimo said.

He claimed in a tweet that Google now ships more Pixel units OnePlus. It is, however, yet to break into top 10 smartphone companies. 

The better than expected performance by Google has come despite weak Pixel 4 launch response. 

Google Pixel shipments reached 7.2 million units in 2019, making it the company's best performance since the launch of the Pixel series in 2016.

In a subsequent tweet replying to a Twitter user, Jeronimo said Pixel 3a & Pixel 4 sold fewer units in the first two quarters of sales than Pixel 3. However, the full impact of Pixel 3a & Pixel 4 sales were seen in 2019 despite weaker launches. 

The company has now expanded the Pixel portfolio to three new markets.

The COVID-19 outbreak may affect the smartphone sales of nit just Google but all the companies, according to an IDC report. The report released in April this year said that smartphone shipments will decline 2.3% in 2020 to 1.339 billion units, down from 1.372 billion in 2019 due to the coronavirus.

China smartphones will experience the biggest shipment drop by nearly 40% year over year for the first quarter of 2020, IDC said.

IDC said that the smartphone market will return to growth in 2021 with volumes up by 6.3%, mostly driven by the accelerated launch of new devices and 5G plans picking up from the damage of the pandemic. 

In the long-term forecast, IDC expects the overall smartphone market to reach 1.511 billion units in 2024.