The Market: In August handset sell-through was low as expected due to the long holidays in European countries. US and China demand fell slightly. Other markets were fairly stable. Sell-in however has slowly increased most likely gearing up for the back to school season in September. Inventory levels rise but still quite manageable in most countries.
Smartphones rose to 70% of the market in August – the highest level in history. Mostly due to the aggressive transition to smartphones from local vendors. Android share in the smartphone category continues to increase, it accounted for 84% of the smartphone market, while the iOS share decreased once to 11% as legacy iPhone sales were slow.
Vendors: Samsung’s share continues to slide as well as Apple and most Tier 1 brands except Motorola and LG. Sony’s decline is alarming as it now may threaten its survival in the market. Huawei, Lenovo were the strongest players. Now ZTE is joining the mix. The winning formula is most obviously good product specification and design at a sub $200 wholesale price point.
Transfer Price-band analysis: The share of sales in the $400+ price band shrinks again ahead of the iPhone launch which is going to expand next month. But the expansion of the $100-199 price band is noteworthy as it signals the importance of this price band in an age of smartphone proliferation. China sales are slow but we expect improvement after September. In August 59% of global Android devices were under $200.
Hardware Features: Handset features have shifted more toward larger than 5inch displays, which comprised 51% of all smartphones sold in August. Samsung continues to dominate this segment, and the sweet spot looks like the 5.00-5.5” sub-segment.
Table of Contents
- Key Tekeaways
- Monthly Research Topics
- IFA – Key observations from the European consumer electronics show
- The Market
- Market Sizing – Demand and Supply
- O/S landscape
- Market by Price band
- Competitive Landscape
- Country Analysis: US/China/Korea/Japan
- Market share by Price band
- Vendor Analysis: revenue structures
- Features and Specs
- Hardware trends and feature adoption rates
- Average feature sets
- Vendor market share by feature set
- Hit model lists for major vendors, globally