Samsung LATAM America Archives

Colombia's Q1 2023 Smartphone Shipments Hit Three-year Low

Samsung and Apple resilient to the quarterly drop amid market concentration.
Motorola and ZTE suffered the most with double-digit declines.
HONOR and OPPO best performers among the Chinese brands.

Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Beijing, San Diego – May 20, 2023

Colombia’s Q1 2023 smartphone shipments fell 9% YoY. Its worst quarterly volume since Q1 2020, according to the latest report from Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service. The country’s quarterly shipments were hurt by weakened demand resulting from rising inflation and political uncertainties. Overall, smartphone shipments in the LATAM region are on the decline, falling 9% YoY in Q1 2023.

Commenting on the market trend, Principal Analyst Tina Lu said, “The ongoing market concentration shows which brands are better positioned, and the results are not a surprise. Samsung and Apple increased their shipment share by 50 and 30 basis points, respectively, in Q1 2023. When consumers are skeptical of the future, they will go to recognized brands and OEMs know this. Nevertheless, HONOR and OPPO, who are trying to grow their presence in Colombia, burst into the market by more than doubling their shipment YoY.”

Colombia Shipment Share Q1 2023 vs Q1 2022

Source: Counterpoint Research Q1 2023 Market Monitor

Research Analyst Andres Silva noted, “In Q1 2023, inventory carried over from 2022 on the operator channel and weighed on Xiaomi and Motorola’s shipment volumes, which declined 18% YoY and 65% YoY, respectively. The excessive inventory led to Back-to-School promotions where two devices were bundled for the price of one, a very unusual offer on this channel”.

Q1 2023 Market Summary

Samsung’s shipment volume grew 6% YoY in Q1 2023, primarily driven by the launch of the S23 series. The S23 Ultra with 256GB memory was the most prominently featured device in the new series, particularly in Claro.
Apple witnessed a 60% YoY increase in shipment volume during the quarter due to the delayed arrival of the iPhone 14 series in Colombia. The iPhone 11, which was Apple’s best-selling model in Colombia, also helped.
Xiaomi faced inventory challenges, leading to a 20-basis point decline in its shipment share. However, it remains second to Samsung. Shipments for the Note 12 series, began to pick up in late March, right before the launch at the beginning of April.
OPPO demonstrated an impressive quadrupling of volume YoY in Q1 2023, surpassing Motorola to become the third most important brand in Colombia. Its share jumped to 10% in Q1 2023 from 2% in Q1 2022. This OEM is focusing on growing its brand in the Colombian market.
Motorola experienced a significant decline in shipment volume, losing over half of its market share. The brand faced inventory issues, with the Moto G22 being the only device that was able to register strongly in the minds of Colombian consumers.
HONOR exhibited a remarkable hunger for a larger market share in Colombia, achieving a 200% YoY growth in shipments. It now competes closely with Motorola for the fifth position. Its share jumped to 5% in Q1 2023 from 1% in the year-ago quarter.
ZTE’s shipment volume, which had been improving since Q2 2022, ended its streak in Q1 2023. Promotions are still operator-focused and miss a big chunk of Colombians who purchase in the open channel despite their presence in Alkosto.

Background

Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the technology, media and telecom (TMT) industry. It services major technology and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analyses of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are seasoned experts in the high-tech industry.

Analyst Contacts:

Tina Lu

Andres Silva

Peter Richardson

Follow Counterpoint Research
press@counterpointresearch.com

Component Shortages Hit LATAM Smartphone Market Growth in Q3 2021

LATAM’s smartphone market saw 0.7% YoY and 3.1% QoQ growth in Q3 2021.
Motorola’s share increased 3.4% points while Samsung’s share decreased 9.7% points.

Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Beijing, San Diego – November 29, 2021

The LATAM smartphone market is heating up with the arrival of more players. In the last year, at least five new brands entered the region. Despite this, the market grew only 0.7% YoY and 3.1% QoQ in Q3 2021, impacted by the ongoing component shortages.

Commenting on the market dynamics, Principal Analyst Tina Lu said: “For the past two or three years, LATAM has been a highly concentrated market. New brands entering the market are driving this concentration down a few points. A more open market benefits a consumer by providing more choices at competitive prices. This trend will most likely continue as an increasing number of brands see growth prospects in LATAM. The Brazilian and Argentinian markets are the least open in the region, as they require local manufacturing. Therefore, Brazil’s market was the most affected by the component shortages that impacted the smartphone manufacturing/assembling industry in Q2 2021 and further deepened in Q3 2021.”

Lu added, “Samsung’s shipments were impacted by Brazil and Vietnam factory woes. As a result, its market share reached the lowest in the previous seven quarters. Samsung continued to be the leader in the region, but this volume drop allowed its closest competitor Motorola to narrow the gap. Motorola is improving its product availability in the region. It continued to lead the Mexican market while improving its position in Argentina and Brazil.”

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor, Q3 2021

Commenting on brand performance, Research Analyst Andres Silva said, “OPPO managed to outsell Apple in Q3 2021 to become one of the five top-selling brands in the region. This is the first time that this Chinese OEM, which re-entered LATAM last year, is in the region’s bestseller chart. The brand saw rapid growth in Mexico. OPPO is growing beyond the Mexican market, but it needs to build the branding in these markets, which is more challenging compared to Mexico.”

Market Summary

Samsung dropped almost 10% points in its LATAM share. Its volume decreased in almost every major country in the region except for Argentina and Peru.
Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina were the biggest markets for Samsung in terms of sales volume.
Motorola led the Mexican market and was a strong second in Argentina and Brazil. In all the other LATAM countries, its second position was challenged by Xiaomi.
Xiaomi’s shipments almost doubled YoY. However, its volume dropped compared to the previous quarter. This was the first quarter in the last three years (except the COVID-19-hit Q2 2020) that this Chinese brand saw a QoQ drop.
Xiaomi wants to position itself as the leading 5G brand in LATAM. It launched the Redmi Note 10 5G during the quarter with very aggressive pricing.
Xiaomi is a close leader in Colombia and a strong second player in Chile and Peru. It is focusing on becoming the leader in these three countries.
ZTE almost doubled its volume YoY. Mexico is its biggest market. It is also focusing on growing in Colombia and Peru in the operator channel.
OPPO continued to stay aggressive in Mexico. It has now expanded to Colombia. But here OPPO will have to work on its brand recognition, so it might take longer to make an impact.
Apple’s volume decreased due to seasonality. The iPhone 13 was launched in most of LATAM in October. On the other hand, there were reports of the iPhone 12 facing big shortages.
vivo is aggressively expanding its presence in the region. It is now growing beyond Colombia and Mexico and has officially entered Chile. But it still needs to build its branding in the region.
The “others” category, especially the “Local Kings”, was impacted once again by the ongoing component shortages.

Background

Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the TMT (technology, media and telecom) industry. It services major technology and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analyses of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are seasoned experts in the high-tech industry.

Analyst Contacts:

Tina Lu

Andres Silva

Peter Richardson

Follow Counterpoint Research
press(at)counterpointresearch.com

LATAM Smartphone Shipments Recover With 42% YoY Growth in Q2 2021

Boston, Toronto, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul – August 19, 2020

LATAM smartphone shipment increased 41.8% YoY in Q2 2021 but declined 6.5% compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest Market Monitor report from Counterpoint Research. Smartphone demand in the region grew steadily but volume growth was impacted by the ongoing chipset shortages and manufacturing constraints.

The region is still suffering from COVID-19. Only a couple of countries have been able to fully vaccinate more than half of their population. Therefore, most countries are enduring various degrees and forms of lockdown, leading to an economic slowdown. This, in turn, has affected the purchasing ASP (average selling price) rather than the rate of replacement.

Commenting on the market dynamics, Principal Analyst Tina Lu said, “LATAM countries’ growth or decline rates varied during the quarter. Brazil was one of the most impacted by component shortages as it has a limited number of brands. On the other hand, Mexico grew compared to the previous quarter, fuelled by fierce competition from new entrants. This led to a larger TAM (Total Addressable Market) in the second biggest market of the region.”

Smartphone Shipment Market Share, Q2 2021

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor, Q2 2021

Lu added, “The volume of most of the brands grew in double or even triple digits YoY. Samsung was the most affected due to the constraints related to its Vietnam factory. Brazilian manufacturing also had supply issues. However, retailers and operators had accumulated some supplies, softening the drop in sell-through. But sell-in was severely impacted. Still, Samsung remains the leading brand in the region, except Mexico and Peru.”

Smartphone Shipment OEM Ranking by Country, Q2 2021

Motorola gained both volume and share in Q2 2021. It capitalized on some of the volume lost by Samsung due to product constraints in the region. In Mexico, it became the market leader. Colombia was the only country that saw a substantial drop in Motorola’s volume affected by Xiaomi. It remains a solid second player in the region.

Xiaomi saw its highest growth ever in the LATAM region. Its volume more than tripled YoY, aided by Huawei’s decline. Xiaomi is now the third-largest player in the region. It has surpassed Samsung to become the number one brand in Peru, the first LATAM country to make it the market leader. In Colombia, it remains slightly below the market leader, Samsung. But Xiaomi’s LATAM growth might slow down due to increasing competition from other Chinese brands.

ZTE volume and share also increased. The brand is increasing its tie-ups with carriers. It benefited from the product supply constraints in the $100 and below segment and LG’s exiting the mobile device market. LG still has some demand, but Samsung, Motorola, ZTE and others are quickly grabbing its volume.

Apple decreased in volume compared to the previous quarter. This is due to the usual seasonality where its sales volume decreases as it gets closer to a new launch. But still, the best-selling model for the American OEM during Q2 2021 was the iPhone 11.

OPPO is the most successful among the Chinese brands that entered the region during the last year or so. However, almost 90% of its volume is concentrated in Mexico. OPPO is placing resources in other LATAM countries, but it still needs to build its branding there. It was in Mexico for a short period in 2017 and is now benefitting from the brand-building undertaken then.

The comprehensive and in-depth Q2 2021 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Feel free to contact us at press(at)counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth research and insights, or for press enquiries.

Background:

Analyst Contacts:

Tina Lu

Peter Richardson

Follow Counterpoint Research
press@counterpointresearch.com

Xiaomi Rises as Third Biggest Player in LATAM Market in Q4 2020

LATAM smartphone shipments in Q4 2020 decreased 10.3% YoY.
Xiaomi shipments increased 98% compared to 2019, and for the first time, the company reached the third spot in Q4 2020.
Huawei, although still holding the third position in 2020, fell off the top five brands chart in Q4 2020.

Boston, Toronto, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul – February 26, 2020

LATAM smartphone shipments dropped 10.3% YoY in Q4 2020 but increased 9.7% QoQ driven by a recovery from the pandemic and partly due to seasonality, according to the latest Market Monitor research from Counterpoint Research. The drop in shipments was the least in Brazil and Peru. For the first time, Xiaomi emerged as the third biggest player in the region in Q4 2020. The average selling price (ASP) in the region decreased by 6.4% during the quarter.

Commenting on the market dynamics, Principal Analyst Tina Lu said, “Smartphone shipments in 2020 dropped 19.6%. The market suffered from a supply shortage in Q1 2020, especially in Brazil, where local manufacturers also experienced parts shortages. From the end of March and through May, most of the regional demand was halted due to broad lockdowns in most LATAM countries. The market started to recover slowly after June.”

Lu added, “During H2 2020, there was a surge in online promotion events, like Cyber Week and Black Friday. Such events increased further in the first part of Q4 2020. However, by the end of the quarter, promotions shifted toward the offline mode to tap the potential there. Samsung was among the most aggressive in promoting its online channel and expanding its presence in the region.”

Exhibit 1: Smartphone Shipment Market Share, 2020

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor, Q4 2020

Commenting on brand performance, Research Associate Monika Sharma said, “Samsung remained the region’s absolute leader in 2020 with 40.5% share. In fact, it was leading in all LATAM countries during the year. Its share in Brazil, the biggest market in LATAM, reached almost 50%. Motorola, which is a comfortable second in the LATAM market, increased its share by 3% points helped by its assembling operations in Brazil and Argentina, and its strong brand recognition in Mexico and Colombia.”

Sharma added, “Xiaomi experienced the biggest growth in participation. The company more than doubled its market share to become the third biggest player in Q4 2020. This is the first time Xiaomi has emerged as the third biggest player in the region. Looking at the trend, it will surely remain the third player in LATAM in 2021. Samsung, Motorola and Xiaomi all took advantage of Huawei’s weakening position due to the US ban.”

Exhibit 2: Smartphone Shipment Market Share, Q4 2020

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor, Q4 2020

Market summary

Samsung is the absolute leader in all LATAM markets. Its share reached 40.5% in 2020, an increase of 2.5% points from 2019. Motorola, its nearest competitor, had less than half of this share. Samsung’s market leadership was driven by the success of its entry-level A series. The company is expected to retain this huge share until a serious contender emerges in the region. But this needs some time to happen.
However, Samsung’s share reached 36.9%, its lowest point in 2020, in Q4 2020, impacted by product constraint at the end of the year.
Motorola is a comfortable number two in the region. Its share was 18.5% in 2020, which is the highest in the last 10 years. In 2021, it is expected to focus on growing its ASP, as it is unlikely to have any other brand shadowing it in the short term.
Xiaomi, which has been in the LATAM market for a few years now, grew exponentially compared to the previous year. It benefited from Huawei’s decline. Many LATAM users perceive it as an affordable but reliable brand. It was number two in Peru and number three in Chile during Q4 2020. But it still failed to reach the top three brands chart in other markets of the region.
Apple grew both MoM and YoY. It launched the new iPhones in the whole of LATAM except Mexico in November. The late launch pushed the sales of the iPhone 12 in December.
Apple leads the sales of 5G enabled phones in the region, capturing more than 66% share.
LG managed to maintain its share YoY and grow MoM. Driven by its K series, the company has been growing slowly in volume across the region.

Other brands continued to decline. Recent entrants like OPPO, vivo, realme and Tecno will need one year or so to build their brand in the market, the key to success in LATAM.

The comprehensive and in-depth Q4 2020 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Feel free to contact us at press(at)counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth research and insights, or for press enquiries.

Background:

Analyst Contacts:

Tina Lu

Monika Sharma

Peter Richardson

Follow Counterpoint Research
press@counterpointresearch.com

Will Huawei’s Extraordinary Growth Story in LATAM Come to a Grinding Halt?

Huawei has been building momentum in LATAM with record volumes and a growth of 51% year-on-year (YoY) during 2018. Its growth came at a time when the market declined by 1%. And it isn’t as if Huawei was slowing down. In Q4 2018, its volume growth reached 130%, YoY. Astonishingly, this growth came despite Huawei not being present in around 37% of the LATAM smartphone market as it does not operate in Brazil and exited Argentina in Q3 2018.

By the end of 2018, Huawei was the leader of the market in Peru and a very solid number two in Chile and Colombia. In Colombia, Huawei became the second largest brand in 2018 and also the leading Chinese brand with 24% market share after including sales of its co-brand HONOR. HONOR entered Colombia in H2 2018, and quickly picked-up share. In Mexico, its biggest LATAM market, Huawei has been increasing volumes through a two for one mix between high and low-price band devices and recently challenged Samsung to be the number one brand in the country. Even in Peru, Huawei keeps challenging for the top spot.

Exhibit 1: Huawei LATAM Shipment Volume Share Evolution

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor

Part of Huawei success in LATAM is due to its improving reputation for offering excellent quality products. Heavy spending on marketing; up to several millions of dollars yearly, in sponsorship, and both online and offline campaigns has successfully built the Huawei brand in the region.

Further, its sales team was big enough to help the brand get into all channels and carriers. Huawei even opened flagship repair stores in most of the capital cities of the biggest countries in LATAM. All these efforts were quite synchronized.

However, just as it seemed Huawei was about to reach a peak for its consumer business unit, the US government decided to impose the export ban. Under a business-as-usual scenario, Huawei’s diligent efforts to enter Brazi would likely have been successful and further boosted its presence in LATAM. But in the current geopolitical environment, entering Brazil looks increasingly unlikely. For the short-term, it will be difficult for Huawei to maintain momentum in LATAM. Counterpoint Research’s analyst team has measured the multiple impacts of the ban in LATAM and other regions, as well as other Huawei business units. This analysis is available to all subscribing clients.

2018: The Year That LATAM Smartphone Market Started to Decline

Political and economic uncertainty in the region affected smartphone sales as three major markets witnessed presidential elections.

New Delhi, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Beijing, San Diego, Buenos Aires –

March 1^st, 2019

Smartphone shipments in the LATAM region declined by more than 1% year-on-year in 2018, making it the first time ever that the market has contracted in the region, the latest data from Counterpoint Research shows.

While declining smartphone sales was a global phenomenon in 2018, the LATAM region caught up with the trend at the drop of a hat due to the political and economic uncertainties in the region. Commenting on the overall market, Tina Lu, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, “With the exception of Chile, most countries in LATAM had a year-on-year decline in smartphone sales driven by the slowdown in the rate of replacement. The year was also marked by political and economic uncertainty across the region. Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil witnessed presidential elections which added to the political turmoil. The decline was led by Argentina and Brazil. While 2018 was particularly bad for Brazil as it was suffering from an economic crisis stemming out of the political uncertainty in the country, there could be some recovery in 2019. Argentina’s problems appear to be more long term as it is not possible to fix the inflationary economy in the short-term.”

Tina added that while the LATAM consumer has slowdown replacements, investment in a new phone is increasing. “Overall average selling price (ASP), in LATAM increased by 5% year-on-year. The top brands saw an increase in ASP while second-tier brands had a decline in ASP. The price band of US$150-US$249 grew more than 10% year-on-year, driving the overall ASP growth”.

In terms of the performance of various brands, Samsung’s leadership in the LATAM market started to face challenges in 2018. Commenting on the performance of various brands, Parv Sharma, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, “Samsung’s leadership position has been challenged for the first time in the LATAM market since it became the top brand in 2012. For example, in Peru, it lost its lead to Huawei. The Korean brand also lost significant share during Q3 2018 as its J series was becoming old and it launched a refreshed version only in Q4 2018. The new J series and other new models, as well as a price cut, helped Samsung recover some market share in Q4 2018.”

Commenting further on the channel development, Parv noted, “Except for Brazil and Argentina, LATAM is still a market dominated by operators. Although, in the last few years the open market has gained participation in the market. This is driven by decreasing subsidies from the operator, but mainly by the retail channel offering multiple installment payment plans for unlocked devices. The possibility to pay on installment is extremely important for the LATAM consumer”.

Exhibit 1: LATAM Smartphone Market Share

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor Q4 2018

Market Summary:

4G smartphones sales contributed 91% to the total smartphone category during 2018.
Top five brands captured 71.6% of the total smartphone market.
Samsung led the market, and it still holds almost three times as much market share as the next competitor.
Samsung’s share was driven by the new J series. All five top-selling models in LATAM during 2018 was the Samsung J series.
Motorola continues to be the second most important brand in the market. Brazil and Argentina market led its success followed by Colombia and Mexico.
Motorola’s strong performance came despite the OEM withdrawing its C series from the market at the beginning of 2018. The E series, with a slightly higher ASP, was able to keep up the volumes and even increased it slightly.
Huawei had a record shipment in the region. It’s 2018 shipment grew 51% year-on-year by volume. By the end of the year, the brand was the leader of the market in Peru, and a very solid number two in Chile and Colombia.
Huawei is still not present in Brazil and it pulled out of Argentina in Q3 2018. Under current government policies, it might be difficult to enter Brazil in 2019. Huawei faces challenges to manufacture outside of China, and it doesn’t look like it will
Yet, Huawei’s biggest increase was in value. It increased its ASP as compared to 2017.
Huawei’s best-selling model in 2018 was P20 Lite. This model arrived in LATAM during Q2 2018, nevertheless, it became the top-selling model. It combined highly desirable features at a reasonable price.
LG smartphones shipment decline -31% annually due to decreasing sales in most LATAM countries.
Apple increased its share slightly in 2018, although it maintained a very similar volume. Apple managed to do this by keeping iPhone 6 and 6S in some key markets such as Mexico and Chile.
Therefore, Apple’s ASP in the region did not grow despite the fact that it launched more expensive models.

The comprehensive and in-depth 2018 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Please feel free to contact us at press@counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth latest research, insights or 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

tina@counterpointresearch.com

Parv Sharma

+91 974-259-6030

Parv@counterpointresearch.com

Peter Richardson

+44 791-723-1934

Peter@counterpointresearch.com

Follow Counterpoint Research

press(at)counterpointresearch.com

Samsung J Series Captures Six out of the Top Ten Best-Selling Model Spots in LATAM

According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Pulse Q1 2018, Samsung J2 prime was the best-selling model in the LATAM region. Samsung’s success is completely dependent on the affordable J series, as LATAM is a price sensitive market. All other series are considered too pricey for mass consumers in the region.

Motorola captured three positions due to its affordable C series and E series. As LATAM is an operator dominated market, Motorola’s success is dependent on good relationships with operators and affordable phones which cater to the needs of the market.

Around 80% of the total smartphone market falls in the less than 200 USD price band. Samsung dominates 2/5^th of the market in this price band and this clearly shows its domination in the market with 36.7% share in Q1 2018 .
Samsung’s bestselling models accounts for 27% of the total smartphone market.
Samsung’s J2 Prime was by far, the top-selling model in LATAM during the last 10 months.
Motorola had a 10% share in the <199 USD price band, mainly due to its C series.
Average Selling Price (ASP) of the top ten best sellers is below 220 USD.

Contact us at press(at)counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our latest in-depth research, insights or press enquiries.

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Colombia's Q1 2023 Smartphone Shipments Hit Three-year Low

Colombia Shipment Share Q1 2023 vs Q1 2022

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Will Huawei’s Extraordinary Growth Story in LATAM Come to a Grinding Halt?

2018: The Year That LATAM Smartphone Market Started to Decline

Samsung J Series Captures Six out of the Top Ten Best-Selling Model Spots in LATAM

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