• Online smartphone sales reached 35% of the total sales in Russia during Q4 2020.
• Apple broke into the top three smartphone brands in the online market during the quarter.
• M.Video-Eldorado retained the top position among the online smartphone platforms, capturing nearly a one-third share.

London, San Diego, Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul – February 16, 2021

Xiaomi managed to overtake Samsung in the Russia online smartphone market in Q4 2020 even as the country’s total smartphone sales fell 11% YoY during the quarter, according to the latest research by Counterpoint Research Model Sales Tracker. With Russia facing the second wave of COVID-19 during Q4 2020, the share of online sales in the market continued to rise, reaching 35% in the quarter from 34% in Q3 2020. Global component shortages, US sanctions against Huawei and COVID-19 vaccination will play a crucial role in reviving the smartphone market in Russia in 2021. Honor may regain its market share after the split from Huawei granted it access to Google Mobile Services (GMS) for its upcoming models.

Commenting on brand performance, Research Analyst Soumen Mandal said, “Samsung was the most popular smartphone brand in Russia in Q4 2020. However, Xiaomi led online smartphone sales, followed by Samsung and Apple. For the first time, Apple entered the top three rankings for online smartphone sales, driven by the good performance of the iPhone 12 series and Huawei’s supply shortages. However, starting sales were not good for the iPhone 12 series compared to the iPhone 11 series due to a shortage of the 12 Pro models and a higher ASP (average selling price). realme was the biggest beneficiary of sanctions against Huawei and moved up to the fifth position in terms of total shipments in Q4 2020, while increasing its lead over OPPO in online channel sales.”

Mandal added, “5G smartphones have started picking up on online channels and their shipments have almost tripled in Q4 compared to Q3. This growth is mainly driven by the launch of iPhone 12 series, Honor 30, Honor 30S and Xiaomi Mi 10T. Apple launched the iPhone 12 series in Russia near the global launch date, which helped it to get the highest 5G smartphone market share here. As flagship smartphone sales are increasing, Huawei is planning to introduce some flagship models along with some mid-range devices to provide more options for consumers. Moreover, Huawei is aiming to launch over 40 product categories, like desktop computers, smart glasses and monitors, in 2021 to diversify its business in Russia.”

Commenting on the market dynamics, Director Tarun Pathak said, “The ASP of smartphones increased 8% YoY to reach $258 in Q4 2020. Consumers are preferring more technologically advanced features in smartphones, like NFC, eSIM and OLED. Despite the economic downturn in Russia, people preferred to spend more on high-end models, thanks to the money saved from travel cancellations and concerns over ruble performance in the global market. The iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 Pro Max were the best-selling models on online platforms in terms of revenue, while the Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9 and Redmi 9A were the top models in terms of shipments.”

Pathak added, “M.Video-Eldorado again led the online smartphone platforms during the quarter and posted recovery in its market share from Q3 2020. MTS is focussing on digital retail and providing lots of promotional offers like cashback, instalment benefit for an iPhone purchase, 25% discount on buying protective glass on a new smartphone purchase, and a special discount for buying Samsung and Huawei smartphones. All this has helped MTS to increase its online market share to 14%. Citilink was another online platform player which experienced noticeable growth in Q4. Seasonal offers, Beeline SIM offering, credit purchase and presence of more smartphone brands aided Citilink to increase its market share from 12% in Q3 2020 to 13% in Q4 2020”.

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:

Soumen Mandal

Tarun Pathak

Counterpoint Research
press(at)counterpointresearch.com

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