Q1 2020 smartphone shipment in the LATAM market declined 20.8% YoY.

Xiaomi shipment grew more than 203%.

New Delhi, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Beijing, San Diego, Buenos Aires – June 2nd, 2020

In the first quarter of 2020, the Latin American smartphone market declined 20.8% YoY and 30.1% from Q4 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. The first quarter in LATAM is typically slow due to the summer recess in the Southern hemisphere. But this year, it was also impacted by COVID-19. The drastic drop in the shipment of smartphones exposes the relatively low penetration of online sales in the region.

Commenting on the market’s development, Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst, Tina Lu, said: “As this year’s Chinese New Year took place before the end of January, and factories in China were scheduled to remain closed for part of February, many brands built enough inventory to last until March. So, despite the COVID-19 measures preventing factories from reopening, sales channels, in most LATAM countries, were not affected by the lack of supply. Brazil and Argentina were the only two countries that suffered due to component supply issues from China”.

Tina added: “From the consumer side, COVID-19 hit the region only during March, when most LATAM countries started to lockdown. The degree of lockdown varied among countries. Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru had complete lockdowns for the first few weeks, with everything closed except food stores, groceries, pharmacies, and pet stores. Products sold online were not allowed to be delivered unless deemed essential”.

Exhibit 1: Smartphone Shipment Decline by Region & Country, Q1 2019 vs Q1 2020

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor Q1 2020

Commenting on the brands’ performance, Parv Sharma, Research Analyst, highlighted: “Another effect from the regional shutdown was the increase in brand concentration. The top 5 brands represented 76.3% share of the smartphone market, 3.3 percentage points higher than the same quarter last year. Xiaomi was the only brand that increased its volume during Q1 2020. Samsung dropped in volume but managed to increase its share. The vendor’s production pivot to Vietnam reduced China supply chain exposure, positioning it well among more China-dependent competitors”.

Exhibit 2: Smartphone Shipment Market Share 2020 Q1

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor Q1 2020

Key Takeaways

• Samsung was once again the absolute leader in the region. The COVID-19 crisis benefited it by increasing its share and widening the gap to its closest competitor.
• Motorola’s shipment decreased by more than -26% compared to the same period last year. Motorola has manufacturing sites in Wuhan, which impacted the brand’s supply chain during most of February and part of March.
• Despite the drop in shipment volume for Motorola, most of LATAM market sales channels did not experience a lack of inventory from the brand, during the quarter.
• Huawei share and volume was also impacted, but not so much by the COVID-19 crisis. Instead, it was hit by the US trade ban. Mexico and Chile remain Huawei’s biggest markets, representing more than 60% of its regional volume. However, it has been steadily losing steam in Colombia.
• Xiaomi more than tripled its volume YoY. It has started to get aggressive in Brazil, in which it has already opened two stores this year in Sao Paulo. It is also negotiating to start local manufacturing.
• LG continues to decline YoY in the region. Brazil and Argentina remain the only markets in which it manages to hold market share.
• Apple grew in volume and share compared to the same period last year. iPhone 11 is driving the growth of Apple in the region.
• Other brands also saw steep decreases, with many at around half the volume from a year ago. This included not only ‘local kings’ but also small Chinese brands, which were all impacted by handset supply issues.

• The feature phone market only declined by 0.3%. It has proven to be more resilient than the smartphone market.

The comprehensive and in-depth Q1 2020 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] for further questions regarding our latest in-depth research, insights or for other press enquiries.

The Market Monitor research is based on sell-in (shipments) estimates based on vendor’s IR results, vendor polling triangulated with sell-through (sales), supply chain checks and secondary research.

Analyst Contacts:

Tina Lu

+54 91160411221

[email protected]

Parv Sharma

+91 974-259-6030

[email protected]

Peter Richardson

+44 791-723-1934

[email protected]

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