2015 smartphone shipments : Chinese on rapid rise
The 2015 smartphone shipments numbers are out for the final quarter of 2015 and the full year sales figures. Samsung has managed to not only stay on top in final quarter shipments, they managed to open a gap to Apple. Huawei managed to seal the final podium spot while Lenovo and Xiaomi rounded off the top 5. The story is a little different in full year sales. Thanks to the mega success of Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the gap to Samsung is reduced to 6.4%. In 4Q15, it was Apple’s turn to register just 0.5% YoY growth. Had Apple managed to sell lot more iPhones in final quarter, the gap would have lessened a lot. For the first time, Huawei managed to sell over 100 million smartphone in a financial year and solidified their third position. Samsung is the only brand in top five to see their share lower (as they had only 2.1% YoY growth). In short, 2015 smartphone shipments have started to turn the tide in favor of the Chinese brands.
Apple has announced plans for aggressive expansion in India, world’s second largest smartphone market. If they taste success in this market, we may see Samsung struggle a lot to keep that top position. India is a country where majority would love to have an iPhone and are eagerly waiting for an affordable model. Lenovo’s major expansion into India did save them in 2015 and stemmed their losses. They finally managed to concentrate on focused released and the models like K3 Note, Vibe series helped them take fourth place from Xiaomi.
Everyone expected Xiaomi to take the third spot, given their explosive growth. But, loss of focus in India and tumbling market share in China left the management red faced. It is really commendable to see Huawei go on steroids in sales. With some impressive models and expansion into many Asian and European countries, Huawei managed to be the brand with biggest growth in the year 2015. Unlike Xiaomi, Huawei does not have to fear lawsuits from Apple (Xiaomi’s MIUI is heavily based on Apple’s iOS) and this helped their expansion into USA and Europe. Such is the growth that Huawei became only the fourth smartphone maker to register triple digit figures (Others being Nokia, Samsung and Apple).
“Usually the conversation in the smartphone market revolves around Samsung and Apple, but Huawei’s strong showing for both the quarter and the year speak to how much it has grown as an international brand,” said Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “While there is a lot of uncertainty around the economic slowdown in China, Huawei is one of the few brands from China that has successfully diversified worldwide, with almost half of its shipments going outside of China. Huawei is poised to be in a good position to hold onto a strong number 3 over the next year.”
“With initial Apple shipment estimates all over the map, Apple assured the public that demand for its premium smartphones is still alive and kicking,” said Anthony Scarsella, Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “A new record-setting quarter for Apple indicates consumers continued demand for Apple’s latest offerings regarding upgraded hardware and software. Features such as a more widely accepted Apple Pay, increased performance, and the innovative Force Touch technology, continue to set the iPhone apart from the competition.
“To combat Apple at the high-end, competing vendors will need to bring value to consumers to stay relevant in the market,” added Scarsella. “With heavy saturation in many mature smartphone markets such as the U.S., Europe, and China, many vendors have placed a renewed focus on pushing premium-looking mid-tier devices as a new value proposition to consumers in both developed and emerging markets. Samsung has found success in this segment with its A-Series, and Huawei with its Honor brand. We expect similar devices to appear in 2016 from a variety of vendors that will focus on affordable value without neglecting performance and aesthetics.”
