Business
Samsung sold most phones in Southeast Asia but Apple shined
Market research agency Counterpoint Research revealed smartphone shipments in 5 key countries in Southeast Asia in the first quarter of 2023 fell by 13% year-on-year. Among the top five manufacturers in Southeast Asia, Apple was the only one to achieve positive growth, while Samsung was the number one vendor.
Note: Key Southeast Asia countries/markets include Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The report shows that the five Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia were affected by a combination of factors such as sluggish demand and seasonal decline, with year-on-year decreases of 7%, 1%, 10%, 30% and 29% respectively.
Follow our socials → Google News, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook
Southeast Asia is at a stage where different consumer types are behaving in a different manners. Low-end smartphone buyers are recovering but they are not just there yet.
Mid-to-high-end smartphone buyers are holding on to their wallets and extending the ownership of their phones, while high-to-premium smartphone buyers are unaffected by the economics of the situation.
Senior Analyst @GlenCardoza writes about Southeast Asia’s five key smartphone markets that declined 13% YoY in Q1 2023.@Apple shined in a declining market with shipments increasing by 18% YoY. @Infinix_Mobile witnessed a 41% increase as the brand grew across SEA markets. While… pic.twitter.com/O648lUQ2C6
— Counterpoint (@CounterPointTR) May 16, 2023
These consumers are going out and choosing to buy the S series, foldables and iPhones. While 5G is becoming a norm, operators are coming out with creative packages and providing options for all types of smartphones.
The coming months are likely to see a bit more improvement in consumer sentiment while governments make sure that their countries remain largely unaffected by global macro issues.
Here’s the data in quick-view format:
- Samsung fell by 16% year-on-year, and its market share fell from 22% to 21%
- OPPO fell by 10% year-on-year, and its market share increased from 19% to 20%
- Vivo fell 26% year-on-year, and its market share fell from 17% to 14%
- Xiaomi fell by 13% year-on-year, and its market share remained at 14%
- Realme fell 5% year-on-year, and its market share increased from 11% to 12%
Samsung remained the king in the Q2 2024 market, but Apple and Xiaomi are getting closer. IDC market research data shows that Samsung led the worldwide smartphone market in the second quarter of the year and Chinese brands scored rapid growth.
According to IDC, Samsung sold 53.9 million devices in the second quarter. The company occupied an 18.9% market share internationally. The company has slightly improved its sales share up from 53.5 million units in the same period last year.
The data suggests that Apple ranked second in terms of global volume sales. The iPhone maker shipped 45.2 million devices in Q2, 2024. It captured a market share of 15.8%, a modest increase from 44.5 million shipments in the second quarter of last year.
Third comes Xiaomi. The Chinese brand saw massive growth in sales year over year. It had sold 42.3 million smartphones in the second quarter alone. It’s a big jump from 33.2 million units shipped in Q2 2023, becoming a potential threat to Apple and Samsung.
Apart from this, Vivo also recorded significant growth in the global market. The company’s year-over-year growth in Q2 was 21.9%, with sales listing 25.9 million units with a market share of 9.1%. The growth percentage shows that aggressive marketing and boasting competitive specs into devices is paying off.
Samsung, Apple’s game isn’t over…
Last week, Samsung launched its new foldable phones, releasing on July 24, 2024. Apple, on the other hand, is expected to launch new flagship iPhones in September. It means, Samsung will enjoy the third quarter as well. The fourth quarter might be of Apple as iPhone sales would sharply grow in the global market given the new lineup release.
Samsung is now preparing to unveil new FE products later this year, followed by the S25 series in early next year. Chinese brands are expected to debut their latest flagships in the last quarter of this year, while Google Pixel phones are also coming in August.
Samsung today announced provisional sales and profit results for the second quarter. Samsung formally announced the provisional/predicted sales and operating profit, suggesting a massive profit boom in Q2, 2024 given the AI memory semiconductor rise.
In Q2, 2024, Samsung sales provisionally increased by 2.89% and operating profit by 57.34% compared to the previous quarter thanks to AI boom. Besides, the sales climbed by 23.31% and operating profit by 1,452.24% compared to the same period last year.
The company expects sales of 74 trillion won and operating profit of 10.4 trillion won on a consolidated basis. While these results are not final, there won’t be much change in the final result when it comes out. Samsung had a pretty profitable period in the second quarter.
Samsung in Q2
- Consolidated Sales: Approximately 74 trillion Korean won
- Consolidated Operating Profit: Approximately 10.4 trillion Korean won
The Korean tech giant is currently facing yield issues in its second-generation 3nm process. The flagship Exynos processor is unlikely to be commercialized this year. It would lead the Mobile business to face additional burdens due to rising prices of Snapdragon chipsets.
Meanwhile, Samsung is focussing on HBM (high bandwidth memory) semiconductors. HBM is a key player in artificial intelligence servers and data centers. The booming AI market will directly benefit Samsung’s semiconductor business.
Samsung ranked first in market share in the global smartphone market in Q3, 2023. TrendForce report says that Samsung led the global Q3 smartphone market, recording a market share of 19.5%.
Overall production in the third quarter increased by 11.5% compared to the previous quarter to 60.1 million units. During the same period, Apple’s production increased by 17.9% to 49.5 million, thanks to iPhone 15.
Follow our socials → Google News | Telegram | X/Twitter | Facebook | WhatsApp
Third place was taken by Xiaomi (13.9%), followed by Oppo (12.6%) and Transion (8.6%). 6th place is Vivo (8%). Meanwhile, global smartphone production reached 308 million units, a 13% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 6.4% increase from the previous year.
Huawei’s re-entry into the flagship smartphone market targeting Apple has had a significant impact in China. Huawei is aiming to expand its high-end flagship series, focusing on the Chinese domestic market next year, so Apple “We plan to attack directly”.
// Source