Overview:

• Market shows recovery, albeit held back by continuing component shortages; China and India see sales growth
  • January sell-through for smartphones showed 2% growth compared to same period last year which was impressive as the market signaled recovery. We think if it weren’t for the component shortages in December, sales could have been higher still. Sell-in in January was less than sell-through again, reflecting the shortage of components in the industry.
  • Smartphone market sales in China and India both showed growth as the market slowly recovered. Other regions like the US showed flat growth compared to last year.
• Apple demand spills over to January, sees highest market share in Canada; OPPO tops China market
  • Apple sell-through as increased 29% YoY due to demand spilling over to January owing to late launch. Apple also achieved its highest ever market share in Canada in January, capturing over 70% of the smartphone market. While iPhone 12 was the best-selling model for Apple globally in January, the iPhone 12 Pro Max continues to be the best-selling device in the US, with consumers preferring the higher end version. This will continue to drive up the ASPs for Apple in Q1 2021.
  • OPPO’s market share increased to 11% in January with sales growing 10% month on month and 31% YoY. This was driven by the Reno 5 series growth in China which contributed to OPPO becoming the number one OEM in China in January. OPPO’s growth was in part also driven by Huawei’s decline. A trend that also benefitted Xiaomi and Vivo.
• S21 drives Samsung’s share in the ultra-premium segment; 5G phones becoming popular in the sub-US$300 segment
  • The ultra premium ($800 and above) segment share declined compared to December, led by declining Apple sales. Samsung’s share in this segment, which had consistently declined in Q4 following the iPhone launch, increased noticeably in January with the S21 launch. We expect this to further increase in February as more markets received S21 volume.
  • 5G devices are finding their way into the sub-US$300 price band with OPPO A72 5G and Xiaomi Redmi K30 5G featuring among the top three best-selling 5G-ready devices.

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