From IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone sales tracking report:
On Apple:
Apple took the wraps off its highly anticipated iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and in the process posted its largest third-quarter volume ever. Although the company posted strong results of 10 million units sold during its initial launch weekend, what should not be overlooked is the sustained demand for its older iPhone 5S and 5C models, which comprised the bulk of its volume for the quarter.
On Xiaomi:
Xiaomi jumped into the top 5 list for the first time at the number 3 position thanks to its focus on China and adjacent markets, which resulted in triple-digit year-over-year growth. Key to its success was the launch of its Mi4 smartphone in August, which was positioned as a high-end alternative to the status quo. What remains to be seen is how quickly the company can move beyond its home territories to drive volumes higher.
On Samsung:
Samsung remained the clear leader in the worldwide smartphone market, but was the only company among the top five to see its shipment volume decline year over year. With continued competitive pressure from nearly every side coupled with cooling demand for its high-end devices, the company’s volumes have fallen from their previous highs at the start of the year. Although Samsung has long relied on its high-end devices, its mid-range and low-end models drove volume for the quarter and subsequently drove down ASPs [Average selling price].
From the New York Times:
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd saw its July-September quarterly profit fall to the lowest level in more than three years, as a decline in earnings from its smartphone business set the South Korean giant on track for its worst year since 2011.
The global smartphone leader has lost market share in annual terms for the past two quarters, lagging behind Apple Inc in the premium market and overtaken by rivals like Lenovo Group Ltd and Xiaomi Inc at the bottom end.
Congrats to Xiaomi. That’s a big jump.
I suspect Lenovo will jump with the addition of Motorola devices in their portfolio now.
I’m pretty sure Xiaomi saw a big jump and Lenovo has a good outlook with Motorola (especially in bringing Motorola to China in a bigger way).
However, I do not put much stock in IDC’s numbers. Neither Samsung nor Xioami reported unit sales numbers. Samsung’s profits and revenues for Q3 slid by a huge margin, but IDC puts only a minor YoY decline in their unit sales — of course they use ASP as the “fudge factor”, but there really is no way to know.
The interesting thing about IDC is that they can make the numbers fit their predictions and compound that year after year. Then they can lower their predictions for next quarter and next year and make the number fudging easier for next time to account for things that happened last quarter.
I believe that several possibilities are very likely here:
1) The smartphone market did not grow as much in Q3 as IDC indicates and therefore Samsung’s unit sales were smaller and their share was smaller these numbers indicate.
2) The smartphone market truly did grow at the rate IDC indicates, but Samsung lost a much larger market share to competitors than these numbers indicate (especially Xiaomi) and the ASP for Samsung managed to stay higher.
3) IDC is close to the truth and Samsung’s unit sales only register so high because they gave large discounts on stale inventory to move it in order to compete with Xiaomi (that strategy does not work as well against Apple since they don’t really compete on price)
I just wish Samsung, Xiaomi, Sony, LG and the rest reported quarterly unit sales if for no other reason than to embarrass IDC and their guesstimates (kinda like when they predicted a 5% decline in Mac sales for the quarter and they were actually up 12%).
If Apple had listened to all the experts and released cheap junk, they would be in the same bottomless pit as Samsung right now. Nobody from an expensive country like the US or South Korea can ever compete with local Chinese or Indian brands on ‘cheap’, only on quality.
Xiaomi copies everything, pays no license fees for anything and has no investors expecting something. No use competing.
lol @ 5% decline vs 12% incline. 😀
Seems Andriod Users are as fickle as Fasion Users year to year. First was HTC then Samsung then now is Xiaomi on the rise. Just like a fasion year to year.
I actually had my numbers slightly off…. IDC and Gartner estimated a 1.7% and 1.3% decline, respectively. But Apple’s actual reported sales showed a 18% increase.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/07/26/apple-incs-double-digit-us-mac-growth-contradicts-idc-gartner-reports-of-a-mac-sales-slump
Also a good read is this article where IDC gets ridiculed for their Mac counting in the following quarter:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/10/09/idc-miscounts-macs-again-awards-apple-fifth-place-in-global-pc-sales-one-year-too-late
Xiaomi’s rise is more about Chinese citizens being able to finally afford their first smartphone or those who want an iPhone instead of their old low-end Samsung, but cannot afford it.
Xiaomi makes Android phones that look a whole like an iPhone (even down the OS skin mirroring iOS). They look like high-end phones without the high-end price,
Xiaomi’s problem is that selling these phones outside of China would likely bring about lawsuits from Apple. However, they can do this in China to their heart’s content, and there are a whole lot of people in China who want a decent smartphone that could never afford an iPhone.
I know people deciding to upgrade to the 5s as the 6 is too large for them. Hopefully Apple doesn’t kill off the smaller form factor.