After
successful the worldwide smartphone gross sales battle for a whole 12 months for the primary time in historical past in 2023, Apple was unable to start out 2024 on a equally excessive observe,
giving again its crown to Samsung on the finish of the primary quarter.
However as a result of the cell business may be very not often a real black-and-white affair, there are numerous shades of grey surrounding each Samsung and Apple’s Q1 2024 ends in key areas all over the world. In India, as an illustration, one market analysis agency
named Samsung the quarter’s quantity champion a couple of weeks in the past, whereas one other one is barely rating the corporate in third place within the nation as we speak.
How unhealthy is that consequence for Samsung?
Not as unhealthy because it sounds, thoughts you, as
Samsung remains to be ranked
first for worth in India’s smartphone market between January and March 2024. Meaning the Korea-based big bought essentially the most invaluable units general within the area in that interval regardless of being eclipsed by Vivo and Xiaomi so far as the precise variety of items is worried.
Even higher, Samsung will undoubtedly be delighted to see its worth share boosted from 23 % in Q1 2023 to 25 % now… regardless of its quantity share dropping from 20.3 to 17.5 % in the identical interval.
What’s weird concerning the new Counterpoint Analysis charts is that they are radically completely different from
the information introduced by Canalys in April for a similar year-opening quarter. Whereas one analysis agency places Vivo above all different distributors, its rival sees Vivo barely make the rostrum.
Apparently, Xiaomi is the silver medalist in each reviews, at the least so far as shipments are involved. By way of worth, in the meantime,
Apple follows Samsung with a 19 % slice of the pie, narrowly beating Vivo and simply conserving Xiaomi and Oppo at a snug distance.
Curiously sufficient, Apple’s worth share is in some way down from 22 to 19 % whereas the
iPhone 15 collection is hailed as an absolute native blockbuster. The corporate’s Indian revenues are mentioned to have set a brand new quarterly document, in order that small decline can solely be defined by different manufacturers breaking their very own information as properly… by bigger margins.
Clearly, premium telephones are getting greater and greater within the nation (by way of mainstream recognition and never simply display screen dimension), producing vital beneficial properties for the likes of OnePlus and Motorola along with Apple, Samsung, and Vivo.
What’s on the horizon?
In a single phrase, development. In two phrases, strong development. In additional phrases, “single-digit development in 2024, pushed by sturdy premiumization (that is not an actual phrase, is it?), 5G adoption, and post-COVID upgrades.” So, no, it is in all probability not honest to count on explosive gross sales development, however that “premiumization” development signifies that revenue margins and common costs will proceed to go up for lots of manufacturers, and one thing tells us that the majority of those manufacturers would moderately see that occur than double-digit quantity progress.
Samsung, as an illustration, has reached a brand new all-time excessive ASP (common promoting worth) of $425 for its smartphones in India, a quantity primarily boosted by the early success of the
Galaxy S24 household and secondarily by the mid-range Galaxy A portfolio.
That is clearly anticipated to leap even larger with the approaching launch of the
Galaxy Z Fold 6 and
Z Flip 6, and the identical might occur for the likes of Apple and OnePlus within the subsequent few months as new high-end fashions both see daylight or proceed to promote like hotcakes.
Imagine it or not, the model that grew essentially the most within the area in the course of the first three months of the 12 months was Nothing, which is nonetheless nonetheless unlikely to rise to the native prime 5 anytime quickly. Motorola’s shipments additionally jumped by an unimaginable 58 %, whereas Xiaomi, Transsion, and Realme’s numbers all made strong, Samsung and Apple-beating progress of their very own. Briefly, India stays a really crowded and massively aggressive market the place every kind of various firms are engaged in a fierce battle for supremacy and development.
