Smartphone shipments in Peru declined both 19% year-on-year (YoY) and 26% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) during Q1 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. This is the third consecutive quarter of falling smartphone shipments in the country. Commenting on the findings, Senior Analyst, Tina Lu said, “Entel, which entered the market a few years ago, drives Peru’s smartphone market. The competition to capture more subscribers has gone. Also, lengthening smartphone replacement cycles affected smartphone shipments. Huawei was the only brand which grew and that too at a healthy rate of 30% YoY. Huawei is looking to take the lead in the market and is challenging Samsung’s leadership. However, Samsung branding is still very strong, and recent US sanctions on Huawei makes it very hard for the Chinese brand to dominate in the near future.” Commenting on the pricing strategies, Research Analyst, Parv Sharma, added, “Peru has a low penetration rate (31%) for LTE subscribers, while 3G penetration is higher (around 39%). However, the LTE capable smartphone share is growing. Around 6% of the total smartphones shipped in the quarter were 3G as compared to 12% in 2018. The brands that dominate the 3G smartphone segment are Bitel, B-Mobile, Sky Devices, Alcatel, and Samsung. The Average Selling Price (ASP) of 3G smartphones is around US$36, which is very low as compared to the overall smartphone ASP of around US$140.”

Exhibit 1: Peru Smartphone Market Share by Brand, Q1 2018 vs. Q1 2019

Market Summary:

• Samsung is back on pole position after trailing Huawei for the last two quarters.
• Around 94% of the devices shipped in Q1 2019 were LTE capable, as compared to 81% in Q1 2018.
• Lower price bands, i.e., <US$99 and US$100-US$199, account for a majority of shipments in Peru’s smartphone market. Around 90% of the market lies in these bands. Samsung and Huawei lead are the key brands in these price bands.
• More than 40 brands are present in the <US$99 price band. Bitel and B-Mobile are important OEMs in this band.
• Around 60% of the Huawei’s shipments were in the US$100-US$199 price band. Its refreshed Y series 2018 is very popular in the lower price bands.
• Due to the recent US sanctions on Huawei, key beneficiaries which will gain market share are Samsung and Motorola.

  The comprehensive and in-depth Q1 2019 Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Please feel free to contact us at press (at) counterpointresearch.com for further questions regarding our in-depth latest research, insights or press inquiries. 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 Parv Sharma Peter Richardson Follow Counterpoint Research press(at)counterpointresearch.com