2024 was very positive in the smartphone market, Apple managed to stay above its staunchest competitor, Samsung. What to expect in 2025?
After 2022 was considered the worst year in a decade for global sales of smart mobile devices, 2024 was a good year of both growth and stability for many brandsas in the case of Apple, which remained above Samsung. The two most popular mobile brands did not have significant changes although they are losing to Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo. Huawei and its resurgence in China, accompanied by the expansion of brands such as Honor and Motorola, were part of the global market recovery.
Chinese brands dominate the mobile industry at the best moment after a difficult year
According to the study and preliminary results of Market Pulse from the Counterpoint Research firm2024 was a year of growth with 4% year-on-year. The statement by the firm’s research director, Tarun Pathak, to the consider that smart phones “continue to be an essential product” and that is already essential for the daily lives of users. It was detected that the countries’ macroeconomic issues managed, in some way, to “soften” in the face of so many pressures.
There were five consecutive quarters in which adequate growth was seen after the first sign of recovery was seen in the fourth quarter of 2023. Europe was the market in which there was the most growth followed by China and Latin America. Xiaomi was the brand that had the best growth in 2024 and that is due to a restructuring carried out in its catalog of mobile devices, in addition to promoting new premium devices. OPPO had the most aggressive decline but managed to close 2024 in a decent manner. Vivo consolidated its market in emerging countries such as India and China. Other brands such as Huawei, Honor and Motorola had solid competition that was reflected in growth in which the former obtained the greatest benefits.
Global smartphone sales market share of the top 5 brands
Samsung led with its S24 and Apple with the iPhone 16 although a little limited by its AI
Counterpoint Research points out that Samsung obtained strong demand for its products starting with the Galaxy S24 series and ending with the A series mobile phones. By having the announcement of an AI ready it obtained a positive response in Western Europe and the United States, home of the from Cupertino. For its part, Apple maintains an 18% share in 2024numbers that haven’t changed drastically since a couple of years ago.
The iPhone 16 was a different launch because it did not have the expected success and that is due to late release of Apple Intelligence. A few months were the difference in those from Cupertino not being able to make an impact as they had budgeted. Despite that, They managed to grow in markets where they are not considered the main power, such as Latin America, Africa and Asia.. Another factor to take into account is that users continue to prefer Pro devices. The case where this factor is most successful is in China.
The iPhone 16 is at the best price | Photography by Ángel Roca
Counterpoint Research senior analyst Ivan Lam stated that in China the iPhone Pro sales share is very high. In the last quarter of 2024, this share was positioned at 40% and is now far exceeding half.
The premium mobile market has a future despite the fact that the mid-range has gained strength in recent years
The strong competition that exists mainly in the Android mobile market caused premium devices to begin to slow down in growth. In times past prior to the Covid pandemic, historical highs in mobile sales were achieved and it is still very unlikely that they will be approached in this and subsequent years. There is a notable sign of recovery in terms of premium mobile phones. Devices with a price above a thousand dollars had faster growth in 2024. The trend reflected that users wanted to invest in their mobile future, although it was also a combination of efforts between subsidies for devices in some markets and low-cost financing schemes.
iPhone 16 y iPhone 16 Pro Max
In 2025, the forecast is very positive since the year-on-year growth in mobile revenue globally would reach 8%.doubling what was seen in 2024. Artificial intelligence will be part of this growth but now for mid-range devices. It will not be until 2028 when these phones include AI in 9 out of 10. Samsung’s next launch in its Galaxy series and The iPhone 17 has already signed up to continue the development of competition between mobile phonesin addition to future launches from Chinese brands.
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Source: ipadizate.com
