What They Say
There has been a flurry of news and releases in the last few days as the big research companies send out their Q2 data. A particularly interesting topic is the smartphone market in China and we have seen news and comments from Strategy Analytics (SA), Counterpoint and others.
China saw smartphone sales were at less than half the sales of the historical peak in 2016, according to Counterpoint. Economic growth was lower than forecast at just 0.4% YoY with lockdowns and the services sector actually contracted. Retail sales of consumer goods dropped 11.1% YoY. Sales of smartphones were down 10% YoY although Counterpoint is optimistic of a rebound.
While Vivo stayed in top position, its share dropped and only Honor, which has grown dramatically from 7.7% a year ago to 18.3% and second rank, and Apple which saw share rise from 14.1% to 15.5% increased their shares although its sales volume actually dropped from last year. Apple boosted its sales from Q1 and is reported by SA to have taken 46|% volume share and 66% revenue shard in the 618 shopping event.
Honor did well by boosting its offline presence and has good coverage in lower-tier cities which were less impacted by lockdowns. The firm took share off all the leading Chinese brands.
SA said that it expects shipments in China to be down 10% to 11% for the year.
What We Think
Counterpoint also pointed out that foldables are already ahead of 2021 in China, led by Huawei. (BR)
