March has ended a few weeks ago, which is why we now have the smartphone sales figures for the first quarter of the year that gives us a look how well our favorite brands performed in the beginning of the year.
The top 5 smartphone brands in the world for Q1, based on Canalys, consist of the usual companies. However, the research firm noted that the worldwide shipments fell by 11% due to the usual sluggish demand during this type of season and unfavorable economic conditions.
Still, compared to the same quarter last year, both Samsung and Apple saw some improvements. Both companies took the first and second spots, respectively.
Samsung can attribute its success to the new Galaxy A-series budget devices that include the Galaxy A33 5G, Galaxy A73, and others. The South Korean giant shipped 24% of the total units in the market in Q1.
Meanwhile, 18% of the smartphone market are iPhones. Like its Android counterpart, the budget-friendly iPhone SE is an important asset for the company. Albeit the iPhone 13 series is still an undeniable performer.
Xiaomi continues to occupy the third seat thanks to the success of the Redmi series. They own 13% of the market.
Sister companies OPPO/OnePlus (10%) and Vivo (8%) also stayed in the third and fourth spots, respectively.
Realme and Transsion (TECNO Mobile, Infinix, and Itel) didn’t make it to the top 5 spot. But, being some of the well-known brands in a lot of markets, we suspect they are the main contributors in the “Others” category, which owns 27% of the market in Q1 2022.
Canalys noted that thanks to the vaccines, consumer activity normalized quickly even with the spike in Omicron variant cases. However, brands are now facing uncertainty due to the Russia-Ukraine war, possible inflation, and the return of lockdowns in China.
Source: Canalys