After two years of continuous decline, the mobile market recovered last year, but Apple was not the winner.
In addition to the current economic situation, which greatly determines people’s freedom of movement, several factors can influence their desire to buy: the development of a new trend or the appearance of an innovation that has not been seen before can act as an incentive, while if manufacturers only make minor improvements, then the replacement of old devices does not seem so urgent either. . In any case, the mobile phone market shrank in 2022 and 2023 as well, reaching a decade low, but last year there was a turning point, and the Counterpoint Research according to his data, we can speak of an overall increase.
Globally, the turnover increased by about 4 percent year-on-year, which the market researcher’s analysts attribute to the easing of economic pressure worldwide and the introduction of AI functions. Almost all regions showed an upswing, but mainly Europe, China and Latin America.
2024 was the year when Samsung, which accounted for 19 percent of the devices sold and achieved only 1 percent growth, regained its market leadership position from Apple. According to Counterpoint, this is due to the outstanding demand for the Galaxy S24 family and some models of the more affordable A series, in the United States and the western half of Europe, the majority chose a mobile phone from the South Korean manufacturer.
Apple’s sales, meanwhile, fell 2 percent after demand for iPhone 16 models fell short of expectations. However, the company was still able to increase its revenue because the more expensive 16 Pro and Pro Max devices were much more popular among customers than the cheaper versions. By the way, this coincides with the trend affecting other brands as well, that more and more people are choosing premium category mobile phones, and thus bringing more revenue to the manufacturers. It is telling that in the last year the turnover has increased the most in the field of devices more expensive than 1000 dollars.
Chinese manufacturers had a mixed year last year: Xiaomi grew tremendously, increasing its sales by 12 percent, thus coming in third place. Vivo was also able to show a spectacular increase of 9 percentage points in terms of the number of devices sold. Oppo, on the other hand, had to post an 8 percent loss, while Counterpoint pointed out that towards the end of the year sales picked up again, i.e. the outlook for the brand became more favorable.
Despite the improving trend, analysts are still skeptical that the market will be able to recover to the level before the coronavirus epidemic in 2025.
Source: www.pcwplus.hu
