Service: Market Pulse

Overview:

• Global smartphone sell through declined (YoY) in September after a brief recovery last month
  • Global smartphone sell-through declined (8% YoY) in Sept after a slight recovery last month driven by a steep decline in the China due to seasonality and the decline of Huawei and Apple.
  • The delayed launch of the iPhone 12 has affected the growth of its key markets like the US. However, the sales in the India market showed strong growth in September due to the onset of the festive season, and the momentum is likely to continue in October.
  • Competition is eyeing the gap left by Huawei and building up a healthy inventory. Xiaomi reached its highest ever sell-in during the quarter. OPPO and Vivo have also been aggressive in September. Hence, sell-in recovered stronger than sell-through.
• China smartphone market saw a steep decline – one of its highest ever down -24% YoY
  • Huawei, who had been pushing aggressively in China, started to lose steam and declined 17% YoY and 24% MoM in September. The lack of refresh of the portfolio is curbing demand, and Huawei is losing mindshare. Apple also declined over 50% YoY due to a delayed launch.
  • September was also seasonally weak in China after summer promotions in July and Aug. Aug was also the 10th anniversary for Xiaomi which ran heavy promotions. This cooled down in September. Consumers were also holding their purchases for the holiday season in October as well.
  • However, according to Counterpoints Weekly Sales tracker, the last few days in Sept saw a steep recovery in sell-through in China as the holiday season approached.
• Premium segment share declines as Apple sales cool
  • $600-$799 weakened due to seasonality of Apple as consumers waited for new series launch and price erosion of older series.
  • However, we are expecting Apple to have a very strong Q4, driven by 5G upgrades. Initial preorders for Apple were very strong. Launch of 5G devices by Apple will also give much needed boost to the 5G ecosystem. Steep marketing activities from operators are expected around the iPhone 12 series. Apple is expected to outperform the global smartphone market in 2020.

Table of Contents:

• Key Takeaways
• Global Mobile Handset Market Analysis
• Country-Level Smartphone Market Analysis
• Global Hardware Feature Analysis
• Global Hit Model Analysis

Author: Varun Mishra
Number of Pages: 41
Published Date: November 2020

Overview:

• Global sell through continued to recover in August, OEMs rush to fill any opportunities from Huawei bans
  • Global sell through increased 3% MoM to 136M units. China continues to recover. India and Latin America experienced good growth as demand recovers. Western Europe continues to show a strong recovery.
  • Sales during the month of June and August showed better growth than the same period last year. Smartphone sales are showing resilience and we have slightly increased our outlook for the smartphone market in 2020.
  • Global handset sell in was 144M as Chinese brands like Huawei actively shipped smartphones ahead of the sanctions as well as procure key components. Xiaomi and Oppo rushed to fill in any gaps Huawei may leave open.
• Huawei losing ground in overseas markets
  • Apple declined 1.3% MoM driven by the decline in Europe and US. This is likely to continue in September in absence of new iPhones.
  • Samsung recovered in India & LATAM driven by new models – Note 20 and A-series. A-series 5G SKUs showing solid uptake in the US.
  • Huawei declined 6% MoM. It is losing ground in overseas markets, especially the EU. Huawei stands on a shaky ground even in its home market due to the absence of new launches
• Ultra premium segment sees an increase
  • Ultra premium band bumped up driven by the new Galaxy Note 20 series launch. Pre-orders were at expectations and devices started reaching consumers in the last week of August. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra variant is doing better than lower-cost Note 20 variant during opening days of sales.
  • Slight weakness in $300-$600 price band as initial iPhone SE uptake started to cool down in the US. $600-$799 price band held its share driven by iPhone 11 promotions which helped maintain momentum. September is likely to remain weak for Apple due to pending Fall launches.

Table of Contents:

• Key Takeaways
• Global Mobile Handset Market Analysis
• Country-Level Smartphone Market Analysis
• Global Hardware Feature Analysis
• Global Hit Model Analysis

Author: Karn Chauhan
Number of Pages: 41
Published Date: October 2020