Peru smartphone shipments grew 27% annually in Q3 2017, and 10% compared to the previous quarter. Since the entrance of Entel, the 4th operator, Peru has become one of the most competitive markets in LATAM. Operators still offer subsidies on devices to retain or to compete for new subscribers. As a consequence operators control more than 90% of handset distribution.

The, top six brands represent more than 70% of the smartphone market. The remaining 30% is shared by a long tail of more than 40 brands. Chinese smartphone brands had almost 40% share of the total smartphone market. The leading players are Huawei, Motorola and ZTE.

Opportunities such as number portability and low mobile penetration in some rural areas, triggered carriers to adopt different strategies to increase market share.  Amid this race, OEMs that can offer the best brand-price-feature combination, will likely advance. Huawei has been aggressive, surpassing Samsung to become the number one player in the smartphone market in 3Q 2017. Huawei had 18% market share followed by Samsung with 14% share. LG and Motorola grabbed third and fourth positions in the smartphone market. Motorola registered strong annual growth of 150%, with its C series smartphones performing well. Vietnamese carrier Bitel is a surprisingly strong player – its own branded smartphones captured fifth position, almost quadrupling its shipments annually in the quarter, albeit from a low base.

Exhibit 1: Peru Smartphone Shipments Ranking and Market Share – Q3 2017Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Monitor Q3 2017

MediaTek captured almost half of the smartphone market followed by Spreadtrum and Qualcomm with 15% and 13% market share. MediaTek is catering to the needs of low-mid range segment and is being embedded by LG, Huawei and Motorola in their key models. These three SOC players captured almost 80% of the total smartphone market. The rest of the market is shared by Huawei’s HiSilicon-branded processors, Apple and Samsung (Exynos).

Market Summary

• Shipments in Peru during Q3 2017 grew a healthy 27% annually and 10% sequentially.
• Smartphones represented 79% of handset shipments in the quarter.
• LTE devices made up 77% of total shipments and grew 29% YoY and 4% QoQ.
• Huawei became the number one player in the Peru smartphone market surpassing Samsung in 3Q 2017.
• Samsung declined 34% annually and 52% sequentially falling to second position behind Huawei. Samsung is facing strong competition from Huawei, Moto and LG.
• LG captured third position with 13% share. LG grew 12% annually, with its K series performing well and providing tough competition to Samsung’s J series.
• Motorola more than doubled its shipments annually in Q3 2017 with its best-selling smartphone Moto C providing the driving force.
• More than 70% of smartphones shipped had a screen size that was greater than 5.0 inches.

Exhibit 2: Peru Bestselling Smartphone Rankings – Q3 2017

Source: Counterpoint Research: Quarterly Market Pulse Q3 2017

• Top 10 smartphones represent almost 40% of the total smartphone market.
• Eight of the 10 bestselling smartphones were in the <100 USD import price band.
• Motorola Moto C was the top sell-in Smartphone during Q3 2017. More than half of the model’s volume was pushed by Entel.
• Huawei Y6 and Y7 models have the highest ASP among the top selling models. Both have ASP higher than USD 100.
• Samsung has only two older models J1 Mini Prime and J2 Prime in the top 10 bestsellers.