As one can tell, smartphones are getting expensive with every iteration. You can find the cheapest models but it obviously comes with some compromises. It is one of the major reasons why people have been switching to premium mid-range and flagship devices who want some premium features like 5G or an AMOLED panel. However, what does the premium smartphone market look like on a global stand? A report from Counterpoint Research goes deeper into the current stats of smartphones as of Q2 2022.
Premium Smartphone Market in Q2 2022
According to Counterpoint Research, the YoY growth of premium smartphones has been phenomenal. It has divided the premium smartphones segment into different categories such as Affordable Premium ($5400-$599), Premium ($600-799), and Ultra Premium ($800-$999 and >1,000).
When comparing the market share in Q2 2021 and Q2 2022, it gives a YoY growth in market share or a downtrend. Apparently, the Ultra Premium segment (with prices above $1,000) has increased from 12% to 26% whereas the second band of devices priced between $800-$899 has diminished by 37% from 22% to 15% in Q2 2022.
Moving on, we have the Premium category which saw a boost in market share by 5% from 30% to 34% while the Affordable Premium market saw a dip of 35% from 36% to 25% in Q2 2022.
When compared to the ASP of premium smartphone market, it has steadily grown from under $600 in Q1 2016 to around $800 in Q2 2022.
Smartphone OEMs Market Share
When it comes to top smartphone OEMs’ market share for the premium segment, Apple has surpassed its market share from 56% to 57% in Q2 2022. It is obvious that the upcoming Apple iPhone 14 series will bring a tectonic shift to Apple’s market share. Samsung too saw a 2% YoY increase in the share after the success of the S22 Ultra.
Moving on, we have Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi at 4% of the total YoY market share in Q2 2022 compared to their 7%, 6%, and 6% market share in Q2 2021, respectively. Vivo recently took the mettle of being the second largest smartphone maker in Vivo under the premium category driven by the growth of the X80 series.
The stats further show that 3% of the total market share is reserved by Huawei in Q2 2022 after reportedly a dip from 6% in Q2 2021. Other smartphone makers have reserved a 9% of market share during the same period which is a steep decline from 5% in Q2 2021 (YoY). Although the numbers in percentages might not signal the enormity of these smartphone makers, we are talking about literally millions of units. For instance, Apple sold 48 million units in Q2 2022 and the number looks like this – 48,000,000 now you can gauge the size we are talking about.
