If you’re a regular Gizmochina reader, you might have noticed that we often mention how fierce the competition is in the smartphone market. Yet, many of you probably think we’re mainly talking about the rivalry between tech giants like Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, and might not take our words too seriously. However, a study by Counterpoint reveals the intensity of this competition. According to the published report, nearly 500 brands exited the smartphone market from 2017 to 2023. Here are the details…

Local Brands Vanish as Global Giants Dominate Smartphone Market

If you asked any of you to name companies competing in the global smartphone market, you’d probably give us a list of 10-20 brands, mostly consisting of major manufacturers. However, the global smartphone market is a much more fierce battlefield than you might think. Today, around 250 manufacturers worldwide are competing for a share of this market. This number was once much higher. Not so long ago, in 2017, there were over 700 brands vying for consumer attention, and within a six year, 65% of them exited the market.

Of course, there are many reasons for this decline, and some aren’t as bad as you might think. First, let’s consider why there were so many manufacturers at one time. The ever-increasing popularity of smartphones and the steadily growing numbers each quarter prompted many local and global companies to try their luck in this market.

I’m sure that no matter which country you read this from, a few manufacturers who normally did something else but at some point released their own Android phone will come to mind. In fact, these local smartphone brands were once hailed as titans in their own regions. However, they have been the main casualties in this market evolution.

Unfortunately, the rise of global brands and their expansion into more markets, coupled with their ability to produce better phones, has made it harder for local producers. Moreover, the sheer size of these global tech giants has allowed them to offer models with a higher price-to-performance ratio.

As a result, local brands which once dominated their markets have seen their market share decline, or have even exited the market entirely. Additionally, these local manufacturers, already lagging in advertising, have fallen further behind due to the absence of celebrity brand ambassadors and significant marketing events.

In the process we discussed, numerous reasons stood in the way of companies’ success, with the final blow coming from the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though there was an increased global demand for technology products and manufacturers struggled to meet this demand, disruptions in the supply chain and other economic issues impacted smaller producers even more.

As a result, 65% of brands that were producing their own smartphones in 2017 have now exited the market. This decline isn’t solely due to a crisis, especially considering there are still over 250 manufacturers. However, to protect consumers, competition shouldn’t be compromised, and the number of brands should not decrease much further.

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