It is increasingly difficult to gain a piece of the high-end pie. Apple’s triumph in the global market is due exclusively to its strategy with the premium segment. The plan works: few pay for a high-end Android and, each year, this difference is accentuated.
The latest Counterpoint data points to an even more favorable global picture for Apple. The market share in the premium segment rises to 75% compared to 71% last year. Despite the enormous growth of manufacturers like Google, the differences in market share are insurmountable in the medium term.
75% quota. The number is barbaric. Of every 10 high-end mobiles sold in the world, 7.5 are an iPhone. Samsung is the second protagonist, taking a 16% share. It represents a decrease of 5% compared to last year, in which they achieved 17%. It remains to be seen how the Galaxy S23 Ultra and S23+ perform this year, but Apple’s growth seems hard to stop.
Chinese bump. Huawei and Xiaomi suffer a considerable drop compared to the past academic year 2022. In the case of Huawei, we are talking about a 44% drop, going from a 5% share to 3% in 2022. On the Xiaomi side, it drops 40%, assuming now only 1% in the premium market, compared to 2% in 2021.
Eye to Google and Honor: Google and Honor are making room for themselves. The growth has been 110% for Honor and 118% in the case of Google, although they continue to be around 1% of the global share. The mid-range Pixel (6a), together with the Pixel 7, are selling considerably in Spain according to our sources, with significant international growth in sales of the 6 Pro and 7 Pro. According to Counterpoint, Honor’s growth is due to its Magic series in China.
The premium market will continue to grow. The reasons for the growth of high-end versus mid-range and access are multifactorial. First, consumers with high purchasing power were not affected by the pandemic. In fact, their number increased. The mobile market for more than $1,000 grew 38% year-on-year. Meanwhile, mid-range and entry-level consumers, with tighter economies, contributed to the 12% global drop in the phone market.
Another important point here is how the market is turning towards “premium”. The price increases are making upper-middle-range phones exceed that average bill of $600, a barrier from which consultants include phones in the premium segment. Counterpoint’s data also shows that even in emerging economies, phone upgrades by consumers tend to jump to the upper end.
If you can not beat them, join him. There are two strategies to fight against Apple in the mid-range. The first is that of Xiaomi: launch premium terminals at a similar price, to convey the message that you are no longer a company that only sells cheap mobiles. The Xiaomi 13 Pro and its 1,399 euros final ticket are proof of this.
the contrary plan. The other strategy is completely opposite: limit the distribution of your high-end mobiles to those markets in which you have certain guarantees. Companies like Vivo do not bring their Pro+ versions to Spain, only the Pro ones. This may be due, with a high probability, to the difficulty of guaranteeing to place a certain number of units in both operators and retailers.
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In Xataka | iPhone 14 Pro, analysis.
