Smartphone buyers are increasingly delaying their smartphone purchases due to weak economic conditions, with US smartphone shipments declining for the fourth consecutive quarter. Apple, Samsung, and Google are amongst the top losers, registering massive double-digit declines.
What Happened: US smartphone shipments fell 19% year-on-year in the Sept. 2023 quarter, declining for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
All the major smartphone makers, including Apple Inc. AAPL, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. SSNLF, and Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google reported a sharp double-digit decline.
While Apple's iPhone shipments fell 11%, Samsung reported a 26% fall. Google's decline was even worse, at 37%. Amongst the major players, only the Lenovo-owned Motorola managed to increase its shipments, reporting a 31% rise.
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"Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were cautious to increase their shipments during the quarter as consumer demand remained low," said Matthew Orf, Research Analyst at Counterpoint.
US carriers seem to be doing a better job at getting their customers to upgrade, though, but the numbers were still below the long-term average.
"While upgrade rates were slightly up at the carriers when compared to last quarter, they remained much below their usual levels as consumers opted to hold on to their devices for longer instead of upgrading," Orf added.
Although Apple still registered a decline, its fall was considerably lower than that of its rivals, as well as the industry-wide decline.
This helped the company register an increase in market share in the Sept. 2023 quarter to 55%, from 50% in the same period last year.
Every other manufacturer in the top five posted a decline in market share during this period.
Another contributing factor to the fall in Apple's shipments is the relatively delayed launch of the iPhone 15 series when compared to the iPhone 14.
While the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus began shipping on Sept. 22, the more premium iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max shipments began much later in October, pushing some of the sales to the next quarter.
Why It Matters: The global smartphone industry is reeling under the impact of uncertain macroeconomic conditions. The US market is no different, but a few other factors are also contributing to the decline, according to Counterpoint.
"Improved durability with stronger build quality, less impressive upgrades among new smartphone releases, and an uncertain macroeconomic environment have all contributed to the malaise we are seeing in the US smartphone market," Orf explained.
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