Samsung re-captures top spot in Q1 shipments; India market up on healthy inventory

The Indian smartphone market saw growth in Q1 2024, thanks to exiting 2023 with healthy inventory levels, in line with the global smartphone market’s growth at 6% YoY, according to market intelligence platform Counterpoint’s latest Market Monitor service.

The global growth is mostly attributed to the strong performance in key regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA).

The $100-$399 price band devices led the growth chart with a 53% contribution in global shipments, a dip from 54% growth in the same period last year, Counterpoint data shows. The smartphones in the category of less than $800 came in second at 18%, up from 16% in the year-ago period. Smartphones in the $400-$799 range accounted for 16% of the global sales, up from 15% in the year-ago period. Cheaper smartphones, priced less than $100, accounted for 13% of the overall sales, down from 15% in the year-ago period.

“Smartphone shipments grew during the first quarter as emerging markets continued their strong momentum, while Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe, grew the most compared to a difficult Q1 2023,” says Prachir Singh, senior analyst.

He says MEA was the fastest-growing region due to the strong shipments of TECNO, Xiaomi and HONOR. “China also grew YoY owing to strong Lunar New Year sales and Huawei’s comeback. The India market also saw growth thanks to exiting 2023 with healthy inventory levels. The mature markets of North America and Japan declined relative to the same period in 2023.”

Global smartphone revenue grew by 7% YoY in Q1 2024 and reached the highest ever in the first calendar quarter. Apple led the smartphone market revenues with a 43% share, although its revenues declined by 11% YoY. Samsung’s revenues grew 2% YoY, propelled by its increasing ASP while shipments remained flat.

“Tough competition in China, record low upgrades in the U.S. and a difficult compare from last year due to iPhone 14 Pro’s supply shifting to Q1 2023 all weighed on iPhone performance,” says Jeff Fieldhack, research director, Counterpoint.

He says an improved product mix with 15 Pro’s performing better than its predecessors, and an increasing footprint in emerging markets, helped Apple in arresting some of the declines.

Another important player, Samsung, re-captured the top spot and led global smartphone shipments during the quarter, driven by the early refresh of the Galaxy-A-series and strong performance of the Galaxy S24 series.

Samsung reached its highest-ever (average selling price) ASP during the quarter as well. Among the biggest smartphone brands from China, Xiaomi and vivo registered growth.

In its outlook for the next quarter, Counterpoint Research says growth is expected to be slow but steady in the near term. However, revenues are expected to grow faster as the ongoing premiumisation trend is likely to persist. The data shows over 10 OEMs have launched over 30 GenAI-capable smartphones so far. “We estimate that GenAI’s share of overall smartphone shipments will reach 11% by 2024,” says Tarun Pathak, research director, Counterpoint.