April handset sell through was worse than March. Europe demand was weak as some consumers withheld purchasing to wait for new flagship models. Japan also entered a low period after strong sell through in March. Operator marketing has been banned in Korea resulting in a sales decline of almost 60%.
Smartphones are now 68% of the market. Android’s share was 82% of the smartphone market, while iOS share fell to 12%.
Almost all vendors experienced stagnant or declining sales in a slow market. Samsung maintained its sales as the new Galaxy S5 started selling in markets after April 11th but, surprisingly, it didn’t experience a boost in overall sales; its mid to low-end portfolio is proving weak. Apple is shipping reduced volumes now as the new product effect disappears. LG, Sony, Huawei also experienced a decline in sales. HTC saw some increase but not significant. Xiaomi is starting to surpass Sony now in volume sales.
The $400 price-band regained share as the overall market slowed but demand for premium products remained stable in absolute terms. Demand in Emerging markets is also not as strong as March. Sales of low cost smartphones in China were relatively weak. In April 55% of Android devices globally were sold under $200 – approximately the same level as in March...
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Category
Industry
Smartphone
Report Type
Report
Time period
Monthly
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