Samsung’s smartphone sales grew 9% YoY in April 2022, capturing 24% of the global smartphone market, according to Counterpoint Research’s Market Pulse Service. This is the highest monthly market share for Samsung since April 2017. The company’s sales grew despite the global smartphone sales declining 8% YoY during the same period. In fact, it was one of the only few brands to grow against the market decline.
The growth helped Samsung to lead the global smartphone market sales for the third consecutive month in 2022. It also became the No.1 brand in the Indian market in April for the first time since August 2020.
Global Smartphone Sales (sell-through) Share of Top 3 Brands, April 2022
Commenting on Samsung’s April 2022 performance, Research Director Tarun Pathak said, “Samsung captured close to one-fourth of the global smartphone market in April 2022, reaching its highest single-month share in the last five years. This was driven by the strong performance of the S22 series in the premium segment and the A series in the mid-segment. Samsung also had low exposure to the declining China market, which negatively affected sales of all Chinese OEMs. Promotions in some of Samsung’s core markets like Latin America and growth in India, where it became the No.1 brand in April, also helped in expanding its market share during the month. Samsung’s supply chain management through 2022 has also been robust, successfully catering to the demand.”
Commenting on the global smartphone market, Senior Analyst Varun Mishra said, “The global smartphone market declined further in April 2022, reaching the lowest level since the pandemic in 2020. China declined the most, as consumer sentiment weakened due to lockdowns. Sales in Russia also declined in April as key OEMs exited the market and inventory depleted. These factors meant another setback for the market, which was still recovering from the component shortages. LATAM, US and India were the only markets to show growth, but that was not enough to offset the decline in other regions.”
Going forward, Samsung is likely to retain the leadership position in the global smartphone market in Q2 2022. The foldables segment, where Samsung is currently the undisputed leader, also has a lot of potential. Samsung will aim to bring down the prices for foldable phones to gain a competitive advantage.
