Apple extends its lead over Samsung in North America in the first quarter
Apple extended its lead Samsung was the last to increase its first quarter deliveries in North America by just 1%. The South Korea-based manufacturer shipped 10.5 million phones across the continent, giving it a 27% market share, compared to 28% in the first quarter of 2021.
Apple, Samsung and Lenovo were the top three smartphone shippers in North America in Q1
Canalys analyst Brian Lynch said: “The North American smartphone market has been boosted by Apple’s strong growth. This quarter, the high popularity of the iPhone 13 was the main driver. With global demand more uncertain, Apple has shipped more devices back to North America. America has relocated after prioritizing other regions in the fourth quarter of 2021, enabling it to better meet demand and deliver backorders from the previous quarter.”
Lynch pointed out that the release of the latest iPhone SE model gives iOS fans in North America a cheaper option. The analyst says 5G support could help iPhone SE 3 sales grow in the coming quarters. He adds, “Despite not being mmWave-enabled, carriers’ increasing investment in C-band and sub-6GHz spectra will open the door for iPhone SE market growth in the coming quarters.”
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What he’s saying is that while the iPhone SE 3 doesn’t support the fastest mmWave 5G spectrum, high-band service is nearly impossible to find, and the model connects to a more accessible C-band and sub-6GHz spectrum.
Rising Motorola (under the name of parent company Lenovo) finished in third place. Shipments in North America rose a whopping 56% year-on-year to 4 million phones, from the 2.6 million shipped to the North American market in the first quarter of last year. Motorola replaced LG after the company left the smartphone business more than a year ago and has succeeded thanks to its popular line of Moto G phones (such as the Stylus 5G) and the Motorola Edge+ (2022) powered by the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset .
China’s TCL took fourth place for the quarter, despite a 21% drop in year-over-year shipments to 1.4 million units. TCL had 4% of the North American market from January through March this year, compared to 5% TCL in the same quarter last year.
And thanks to the Pixel 6 series, Google was the fifth largest shipper of phones in North America in the first quarter. Canalys shows that Google shipped 1.2 million pixels to North America in the first quarter, a 380% increase from the 200,000 Pixel models shipped to the continent in the first quarter of last year. Google had a 3% market share in North America in the first quarter of 2022, compared to its 1% market share in the first quarter of 2021.
Canalys research analyst Runar Bjørhovde stated: “Google is on the offensive to gain market share, building on its broad carrier presence and unprecedented investment in the Pixel brand, both in traditional ad campaigns and in a new NBA partnership. It focused in the first quarter on the Pixel 6, but will continue to expand through the rest of the year, with a recently launched portfolio including the upcoming Pixel 7 flagship, affordable Pixel 6a, Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds.”
Other brands collectively shipped 2.1 million smartphones in North America in the first quarter, down 64% from the 5.8 million shipped in the same period last year.
Lynch of Canalys summed up the quarter for smartphones in North America by noting, “High inflation is putting enormous pressure on airlines in North America as fare increases will be necessary. Heavy discounts and high trade-in values are used to retain customers for the largest telcos in the region, easing pressure on the high-end smartphone market.”
Lynch summed up the market by saying that “supply will continue to be a major bottleneck for the top suppliers in the coming quarter, but North America will remain a priority and likely to maintain healthy supply. The North American market is well positioned to experience significant volatility.” in shipments, despite the uncertain outlook of the economy.”