Despite receiving a positive response to its flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone series, Samsung continued to struggle in the global smartphone market. According to the latest data from research firm Counterpoint, global smartphone shipments in Q2 2015 reached an all-time high of 370 million, but Samsung’s market share declined to 20 percent from 24.2 percent during the same period the previous year. Chinese smartphone manufacturers Huawei, Xiaomi and ZTE performed exceptionally well in Q2 of 2015.
The growth of the smartphone industry came largely at the cost of feature phones. A 20 percent YoY growth in smartphone shipments in Q2 can be attributed to the fact that 8 out of 10 phones shipped during the quarter ended June 30, 2015, were smartphones. Declining ASP (Average Selling Price) of smartphones, deeper penetration of Chinese smartphone OEMs and greater migration from 2G to 3G mobile network are driving the global smartphone shipments growth. In emerging markets such as India, sub-$150 smartphones are becoming the first choice for first-time smartphone users. The record sales of Xiaomi Redmi 2 and Lenovo A6000 Plus are the clear indicators of this trend.
Chinese OEMs are being adopted by users worldwide. Three out of the top five OEMs of Q2 2015 are from China. The biggest surprise was Huawei’s entry into the list of top five smartphone manufacturers for Q2 2015. Huawei leapfrogged Lenovo and Motorola to become the third largest smartphone manufacturer by shipping 30 million smartphone units in Q2 2015.
Smartphone OEMs Performance in Q2 2015
In Q2 2105 Huawei emerged as the top gainer. The company’s shipment grew by 48.1 percent YoY, clocking 30.5 million units. Huawei accounted for 8.2 percent of total smartphones shipped in Q2 2015, thereby closing the gap with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. (KRX:005930). The sales performance of Honor helped the company to receive an encouraging response from 60 countries around the globe. The growth was largely recorded in Europe, North Africa and Middle East.
Samsung still holds the numero-uno position in the smartphone market despite the declining growth. The Korean smartphone manufacturer recorded 1.2 percent YoY decline in Q2 2015, accounting for 20 percent of the total smartphone shipments. The Galaxy S6 failed to halt Samsung’s declining smartphone market as the market for $400+ continued to shrink further. Chinse manufacturers including Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei have refused to play in the high-price smartphone arena and are flooding the market with sub-400 devices that sport almost equally powerful hardware components. Samsung is facing a tough time in the US, China, and Latin America market, but emerging markets such as India, MEA and parts of Europe are still responding in favor of the company.
The jaw-dropping sales performance of iPhone 6 series continues in the Q2 of 2015 despite the fact that the devices were launched in the market almost 3 quarters ago. With 34.9 percent YoY growth, Apple shipped 47.5 million units of iPhone during the second quarter of 2015. Though Apple’s market share declined in the last two quarters, the company still accounts for nearly 13 percent of the total smartphone shipments. Interestingly, Apple has emerged as the only company that managed to record growth in sales despite increasing its ASP price by $100.
Despite strong sales of Lenovo A6000 Plus Lenovo smartphone shipment share grew to only 5.1%. The company (Lenovo + Motorola) shipped 16.6 million smartphone units during Q2 2105, accounting for 4.5% of total shipments. It is an important statistic to see that company’s shipment share received a decline of 0.7% point as compared to the same quarter last year.
