- iPhone helps Apple to record 3rd quarter revenue even as shipments remain flat YoY
- Huawei holds on to 2nd position for the second consecutive quarter
- Emerging market growth could not offset the decline in China & other developed markets
New Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Buenos Aires – November 1st, 2018
According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, global smartphone shipments declined 3% annually, recording 386.8 million units in 3Q 2018. The top 10 players now capture 79% of the market leaving 600+ brands to compete for the remaining 21% of the market. Samsung continued to lead the smartphone market with 19% market share in the quarter. Smartphone shipments for Samsung declined for the fourth consecutive quarter, even though the company recorded its highest smartphone shipments ever in India. Chinese players continue their growth trajectory with strong performances in markets outside China. While Apple iPhone shipments remained flat annually, revenues for the devices grew 29% with a record average selling price of $793.
Exhibit 1: Global Smartphone Shipments Ranking and Market Share – Q3 2018
Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Monitor Q3 2018
Commenting on the decline in smartphone market, Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, said, “This is the first time that the global smartphone market has declined for three consecutive quarters. It can be attributed to a weakening demand in developed markets like China, USA and Western Europe which account for almost half of smartphone sales globally. The lack of meaningful innovation and improvement in smartphone build quality is leading to lengthening replacement cycles.”
Mr. Pathak commenting on the strong performance of the Chinese brands added, “Despite the decline in its home market, Chinese brands OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi reached new highs in smartphone shipments in a quarter. Huawei was also able to maintain its 50+ million smartphone shipments and retain its 2nd position in 3Q 2018. This suggests that the companies are reducing their dependence on their home country. The brands will further expand outside China as they push into Asia Pacific countries and Europe.”
Exhibit 2: Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi (HOVX) growth (China vs Rest of World) – Q3 2018
Although some emerging markets, like India, showed double digit growth, it was not enough to compensate for the volume decline in developed markets. Since emerging markets are under-penetrated, they have a smaller smartphone base and are not able to offset the global decline. However, this also presents long-term growth opportunities for OEMs with many entering such markets to grow their sales.
Commenting on this market trend, Research Analyst Shobhit Srivastava noted, “The growth in the emerging markets is led by Chinese smartphone players that are venturing out of China to capture sales. The offerings from these OEMs have intensified competition and many features and capabilities common among flagship models are now progressively diffusing through to the lower price bands. This is also affecting local smartphone players in the emerging economies, which are struggling to maintain a foothold.”
Exhibit 3: Smartphone Shipment Penetration by Region – Q3 2018
Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Monitor Q3 2018
Mr. Srivastava added, “Chinese OEMs are driving up the ASP in the low to mid-tier price segments in emerging markets by offering competitive specifications at affordable prices. These OEMs have also carved out an “affordable premium” segment targeting users that cannot afford flagship devices. However, considering the macro economic factors in many of these emerging markets, many challenges still lie ahead. It will take more than an affordable smartphone offering to make users switch from their feature phone to a smartphone in the short-term.”
By offering additional features like AI, dual camera, full-screen display and higher memory configurations, smartphone OEMs are subtly increasing the average selling price of devices. This is helping the brands maintain revenue despite declining shipments. The next growth cycle in developed markets will likely be driven by the emergence of commercially available 5G, which is still some quarters away.
*Lenovo includes Motorola
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Analyst Contacts:
Tarun Pathak
+91 997-121-3665
tarun@counterpointresearch.com
Shobhit Srivastava
+91 900-083-1117
shobhit@counterpointresearch.com
Varun Mishra
+91 991-502-0142
varun@counterpointresearch.com
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