Apple, Samsung Form Virtual Duopoly in UK Smartphone Market: Counterpoint

Apple saw its UK smartphone market share decline sequentially in Q3 2017, while Samsung saw flat growth year on year, as a per a recent market research report. As per Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse service, Apple and Samsung are tied neck to in the market.

The two smartphone behemoths have nearly identical market shares, with Apple at 34.4 percent and Samsung at 34 percent. Huawei takes the third spot (13 percent), Alcatel is fourth (4 percent), while Lenovo's Moto brand captured 3 percent of the market. Other brands made up 11 percent of UK's smartphone market.

The Counterpoint report adds that UK smartphones sales remained flat annually in the third quarter this year, while the overall handset market (including feature phones) declined by 8 percent (year on year).

"The Chinese giant Huawei was the third largest brand, with consistent double-digit market share, leveraging a diverse portfolio across all price-tiers, but still some distance behind Samsung and Apple that represent something approaching a virtual duopoly," said Parv Sharma, Research Associate at Counterpoint Research.

"Like we see in the US market, Apple and Samsung together control more than two thirds of the UK smartphone market in sales volumes and more than 80 percent in sales value," Sharma added.

The Apple iPhone 7 was the bestselling smartphone and contributed to 15 percent of the total smartphones sold in Q3.

"Samsung's Galaxy S8 (9 percent) and Galaxy S8+ (6 percent) were second and third. Samsung also has a strong range across all price bands and it, together with Huawei, provided a strong volume platform that was resilient to attack from most other brands," said Research Director Peter Richardson. The top five smartphone list was rounded off by Samsung Galaxy J3 (6 percent) and Huawei P10 Lite (4 percent).

As for the premium smartphone market, Research Director, Peter Richardson, said, "The UK is one of the strongest markets for Apple globally and this is reflected in the premium segment's share of the market overall. Despite Apple being at the tail-end of a product cycle through most of 3Q, the premium segment (> $500 wholesale) still grew both in terms of volume and value, while the overall market volume fell. Apple dominated the premium segment and was the main contributor to overall market value share - especially as the Average Selling Price (ASP) of the newly launched iPhone 8 was higher than the iPhone 7's launch price. Samsung also enjoyed a strong position, accounting for almost one third of the premium market volume during the quarter. Apple and Samsung together leave very little room for other players."

Written with inputs from IANS