SME Times News Bureau | 16 Oct, 2020
Samsung took the top spot in the global smartphone market in August
driven by sales growth in India as the market recovered from a
nationwide lockdown, a Counterpoint Research report said on Friday.
The
South Korean tech giant also recaptured the top spot in India in
July-August period, according to Counterpoint's latest Monthly Market
Pulse report.
Samsung has now reached its highest market share in
India since 2018 by adopting an aggressive online channel strategy to
benefit from opportunities arising due to anti-China sentiments in the
country, said the report.
"Geopolitical policies and political
affairs among nations are affecting the smartphone market in many ways.
There will be heightened marketing activity to seize opportunities in
these regions and segments," Research Analyst Minsoo Kang said in a
statement.
"As a result, the concentration of top players in the
smartphone market will be much stronger. We see players like Samsung,
Apple, Xiaomi and OPPO benefiting the most."
However, even as
Samsung snatched the top spot in the India market dominated by Xiaomi
for long, the Chinese smartphone maker is showing a significant increase
in its market share globally, especially in markets where Huawei used
to have strong presence, such as Central Eastern Europe.
In the global smartphone market, Samsung captured 22 per cent share.
In April, Samsung lost the top spot to Huawei due to sharp declines in its major markets of India and Europe.
After
achieving its highest global share of 21 per cent in April, Huawei
became No. 2 in the market with 16 per cent share in August.
Huawei's market share is expected to fall further in the future due to US trade sanctions, said the report.
Apple
has managed to maintain its share well in the off-season period. With
the October 13 launch of the new iPhone 12 series, Apple's sales are
expected to rise but only in November as the launch is later than
previous years.
The long lifecycle of iPhone 11 series and successful new iPhone SE will help Apple bridge the gap till then, Counterpoint said.