Counterpoint Research has just published a new report regarding the premium smartphone market, and according to the company’s findings, OnePlus actually managed to find its way to the top five premium smartphone manufacturers.
The list that you can check out down below shows you top five smartphone manufacturers in the premium segment for 2018, on a global scale. Next to that, you can also see how each of those companies did back in 2017, for comparison’s sake.
Apple is still in the lead, as it was back in 2017. The company managed to grab 51-percent of the premium smartphone market in 2018, which is worse than it was back in 2017, as Apple held 58-percent of that market back then. Samsung is second-placed, as expected, and its popularity in the premium segment dropped a bit in 2018 as well, as the company managed to grab 22-percent of the market, compared to 23-percent back in 2017.
Huawei is third-placed in this segment, as the company held 10-percent of the premium smartphone market last year, which is an improvement compared to 2017, as Huawei grabbed 8-percent of the market back then. OPPO grew quite a bit compared to 2017, from 1-percent to 8-percent, while OnePlus is now fifth-placed, as the company managed to get 2-percent of the market, improved from 1-percent which it held in 2017.
Counterpoint Research also notes that the segment grew 14-percent year-on-year YoY) in terms of sell-in, and 18-percent YoY in terms of sell-through. The source also says that this growth was driven by Apple’s iPhones, and premium phones from Chinese smartphone manufacturers, such as Huawei, OPPO, and OnePlus, as you’ll note that three out of five companies on this list are from China, and that only those three companies grew in the premium segment compared to 2017.
The source claims that close to 40 OEMs now compete in the premium smartphone segment on a global scale, which explains the increased competition. Out of those approximately 40 OEMs, the five companies we’ve mentioned account for almost 90-percent of premium smartphone shipments. Premium smartphone segment contributed to one-fourth of the global smartphone shipments in 2018, claims Counterpoint Research, or in translation, 22-percent.
Huawei’s considerable growth in this segment was driven by the company’s P20 and Mate 20 series of devices which ended up being quite popular in 2018, while OPPO’s growth was fueled by the R15 and R17 series devices. The OnePlus 6 and 6T played a crucial role for OnePlus, as both devices did really all over the globe, and especially in China, India, and Western Europe.
Huawei managed to up the ante with the Huawei P30 series this year, and the Mate 30 may boost the company’s sales even more later this year. Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series of devices seems to be quite popular, and OPPO introduced its Reno flagship with periscope camera recently as well (in China), its global launch will occur soon.
OnePlus is expected to present its flagship offering(s) next month, while Apple will introduce its next-gen flagships later this year. It will be interesting to see how will these five companies compare at the end of this year, but we’re not expecting much change in terms of placement, the list will probably remain the same, though it remains to be seen if Apple and Samsung will keep on losing market share in the premium segment.