The US smartphone market is expected to settle into a flat growth path with a modest 2% increase in smartphone demands, as per a report. The latest forecast has been adjusted downward from the prior estimate of 6% YoY growth in 2022 because inflationary pressures will likely decrease demand in the upcoming quarters

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, the US smartphone market is expected to witness a 2% growth this year. Counterpoint says that it has significantly reduced its forecast for 2022 from the previous projection of 6% percent growth as the demand will be suppressed in the remaining quarters due to inflationary pressures. However, there are several scheduled industry events for 2022 that will boost low-end smartphone sales. As 3G networks become obsolete, carriers will be forced to migrate subscribers to new LTE and 5G devices.

“We began the year with strong sell-in momentum, with Q1 2022 seeing 6% YoY growth due to solid postpaid demand. However, we are adjusting our shipment forecast numbers downwards as we are increasingly seeing the impact of inflation in the US market,” said Research Director Jeff Fieldhack. “Last year, we saw supply as a much bigger issue as chipset shortages impacted smartphone manufacturing”, Fieldhack added.

The flat growth is attributed to demand issues. Americans’ purchasing habits have shifted away from technology products to experiences such as vacations and outings. Furthermore, as fuel prices rise owing to inflation, people are making fewer excursions to retailers and altering their spending behavior even more, says the report.

“Prepaid sales will be most affected by weak demand as this is the most price-sensitive segment in the US,” said Senior Research Analyst Maurice Klaehne. “This is also where any price increases for devices will be most heavily felt by consumers. We see national retailers feeling the impact of inflation, but it is more of a mixed bag. Walmart, a one-stop shop for groceries, tech products and much more, may be less impacted compared to Best-Buy, which is a very specialized tech retail store,” Klaehne further added.

Related:

• Worldwide Tablet and Chromebook shipments decreased significantly in Q1 of 2022: IDC
• Samsung dethrones Xiaomi to become smartphone market leader in India: Counterpoint Research
• Counterpoint reports a 4.3% YoY decline in Global PC shipments in Q1 2022

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Last week, we witnessed the launch of new models in one of the best-selling budget smartphone series worldwide. Further, we learned that the global smartphone market grew for the first time in four years. Then, out of nowhere, two brands released shameless iPhone clones. At the same time, another company launched a Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone. All this and more happened in the last few days. Let’s take a look at them one by one in no particular order.

Before proceeding, we would like to let you know that the top stories listed here are based on our opinion. As your choices may vary, we would like to know your picks in the comment section below.

Top Stories from Last Week

New Redmi Note 11 series for international markets

After debuting the Redmi Note 11 lineup in China in November, Xiaomi finally brought the family to international on January 26. However, the series for global markets include totally different devices, namely Redmi Note 11, Redmi Note 11S, Redmi Note 11 Pro, and Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.

Out of these four, the Redmi Note 11S offers the best value for its asking price. Although it looks and has the same display as the vanilla model, its specs are more comparable to the Pros.

The entire series comes with features like a high-refresh display, dual stereo speakers, IR blaster, MUI 13, a 5,000mAh battery, and more. You can learn more about them by visiting this link.

Smartphone market observed multiple records

The global smartphone market grew for the first time in 2021 since 2017. Counterpoint Research revealed that the shipments reached 1.39 billion units by growing 4% YoY.

The Indian smartphone, in particular, grew 12%YoY last year by registering 162 million units in shipment. On the other hand, the Chinese market shipped 333 million units and incremented by only 1%.

Finally, pivoting to the budget segment at the right time (ahead of LG’s demise), OnePlus saw an insane 524% YoY growth in the US in Q4 2021.

iPhone clones from Gionee and Blackview

Gionee 13 Pro went official last week with an uncanny iPhone 13 resemblance and HarmonyOS. However, it has entry-level specs like an HD+ display (LCD) and a UNISOC T310 chipset. For just  ¥529 (483), it doesn’t sound like a bad deal after all.

At around the same time, Blackview A95 also got announced with an iPhone 13 Pro-like design. Its main highlights other than design include a MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, 6.5-inch HD+ display (LCD), and a 4,380mAh battery.

Face ID now works with a mask 

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, iPhones can be finally unlocked with masks on. However, this feature is currently only available in the beta channel. Also, it requires iPhone 12 or newer models.

Additionally, Apple is working on a new feature that will turn iPhones into POS machines. This feature will be reportedly useful for micro-merchants.

MediaTek Kompanio 1380 is a new chip for Chromebooks

MediaTek announced a new SoC called Komapnio 1380 for premium Chromebooks on January 26. This 6m chip arrives with an octa-core CPU consisting of four ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 3GHz and a five-core ARM Mali-G57 GPU.

It supports up to 4K 60Hz display, AV1 decoding, WiFi 6//6E, and Bluetooth 5. The chipset will make its global debut inside the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, which is scheduled to hit the shelves in June.

HUAWEI P50 Pocket reaches global markets alongside HUAWEI P50 Pro

On January 26, Huawei announced the arrival of HUAWEI P50 Pro and HUAWEI P50 Pocket to multiple international markets like Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America.

The 4G-only premium handsets from the once world’s largest smartphone brand sport the same set of features as the variant sold in China, except for software. The global editions of these devices run EMUI 12 without GMS (Google Mobile Services) instead of HarmonyOS.

Despite their shortcomings in terms of software, Huawei is charging a whopping €1,199 for the HUAWEI P50 Pro (8GB + 256GB) and €1,299 for the HUAWEI P50 Pocket (8GB + 256GB). There’s also a Premium Edition of the latter phone with a unique design and 12GB + 512GB memory configuration for €1,599.

JioPhone 5G could be Jio’s first 5G smartphone

A report on January 25 disclosed that the Indian carrier Jio is working on its first 5G smartphone called JioPhone 5G. This device is expected to go official in June with much better specs than the poorly received JioPhone Next.

The handset is said to come with a 6.5-inch HD+ display (HD+), 13MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) dual camera setup, 8MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SoC, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.

OnePlus phones might run H₂OOS in the near future

On January 27, popular Indian tech influencer Mukul Sharma tweeted that the unified operating system of OPPO and OnePlus could be called H₂OOS. Since his claim is based on a trademark filing by OnePlus, he could be wrong.

Anyway, the H₂OOS (Water OS) trademark is interesting as it combines the names of OxygenOS (O₂) and the discontinued HydrogenOS (H₂OS). The name has no mention of ColorOS, which the software will be actually based on.

Furthermore, a couple of days before this tweet, a tipster stated that the OnePlus 10 Ultra could debut in H2 2022 as the brand’s first superphone or ultra-premium smartphone. The device is said to house OPPO’s MariSilicon NPU.

HONOR to showcase new products at MWC 2022

HONOR has confirmed to attend MWC 2022. The company has scheduled a launch conference for February 28. The event will kickstart at 1 PM CET.

The brand is teasing the launch of the new Magic series with a quote ‘The Power of Magic’. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the upcoming lineup of handsets.

Micromax IN Note 2 and vivo Y75 5G  debut in India

Micromax launched the IN Note 2 on January 25 as the successor of IN Note 1 for ₹13,490 (4GB + 64GB). The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra-lookalike phone arrives with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, MediaTek Helio G95 chipset, 48MP (wide) + 5MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) quad-camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounte fingerprint sensor, Android 11, 5,000mAh battery, and 30W fast charging.

Chinese handset maker vivo debuted a new budget 5G smartphone called vivo Y75 5G in India on January 27. For ₹21,990 (8GB  +128GB), the phone offers a 6.58-inch FHD+ display (LCD), MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC, 50MP (wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) triple camera setup, 16MP selfie camera, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 12, 5,000mAh battery, and 18W fast charging.

RELATED:

• Xiaomi sold 1 in 4 smartphones in India in 2021, Samsung followed with 18% market share
• Throwback Tech Thursday: Revisiting Motorola Rokr Z6, the Stylish Music Phone
• Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun responds to rumors of him retiring from the company
• Samsung records all-time high $232.43 billion revenue in 2021
• Upcoming Smartphones: OPPO Reno7 series heading to India

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While 2020 proved to a difficult year for the overall smartphone market and a few OEMs as well, there were still those that managed to see growth despite the pandemic and its impacts. OnePlus is one such company, which saw a bump in market share in the US.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, the Chinese smartphone maker saw a great boost in the US market, despite most other vendors seeing a decline. Only be the second half of last year did the market recover, but it OnePlus apparently flew past its competition in terms of growth in channel presence and overall market size. In 2020, the company saw a market growth of 163 percent year on year over 2019, which is notable considering every other major OEM like Samsung and Apple saw a decline during the same period.

As per the report, OnePlus managed to achieve this by being an appealing alternative to customers that had become “disenfranchised with current premium smartphone offerings.” This was primarily due to two particular OEMs and their new offerings, namely Apple and Samsung. The former’s iPhone 12 series and the latter’s Galaxy S20 lineup saw an increase in pricing, due to the addition of 5G support. With the average price of smartphones rising with each passing year, consumers were reluctant to this trend, especially during the pandemic.

Furthermore, OnePlus is a relatively small OEM in comparison to these aforementioned brands. But despite its size, the company saw strong growth last year and is expecting positive results this year as well. The launch of the company’s OnePlus Nord N10 5G also helped the company in the US market as it is a sub 300 US Dollar handset that offered a 90Hz refresh rate display, with 5G support.

RELATED:

• OnePlus Nord N10 5G, Nord N100 prices to be slashed next week
• OnePlus’ Valentine’s Day offers in the US include discounts, free backpack, and more
• Tipster says OnePlus Nord N1 5G smartphone will succeed the Nord N10 5G

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After releasing its reports for India and China, Counterpoint Research has now published a report on US Smartphone Market Q3 2020. According to it, the market witnessed a 31% QoQ growth, however, it declined by 6% YoY. In other words, the market is yet to recover completely.

The US Smartphone Market rebounded in the third quarter of 2020 as certain OEMs outperformed despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the market declined YoY, Apple and Samsung registered YoY growth in the same quarter.

As for carriers, T-Mobile performed the best by beating expectations, whereas AT&T and Verizon also witnessed growth. That said, iPhone 11 was the best-seller, followed by iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 11 Pro Max respectively. 

As states began to ease restrictions in the past few months, retail outlets started re-opening with longer store hours and more occupancy numbers. But still, more than 20% of sales occurred online. This number is expected to hit 40% with the launch of the iPhone 12 series and the upcoming holiday season.

That said, although the numbers seem positive, it may not be the same in the coming months. The 31% QoQ growth was due to the pent-up demand and stimulus money in the month of July. 

But sales diminished in August and September, which resulted in a 6% YoY decline. This occurred due to the unemployment in the country, in addition to the lack of another stimulus package.

In Q4, Apple is expected to see growth with the sales of the iPhone 12 series. On the other hand, Samsung has announced a higher storage variant of Galaxy S20 FE and is also promoting Galaxy A and Galaxy Note20 series for the festive season.

UP NEXT: Samsung is now the US’ largest smartphone brand after 3 years

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Various research firms have been releasing their reports on key smartphone markets in the past few days. Earlier today, Strategy Analytics published a report on the US Smartphone Market for Q3 2020. According to that., Samsung beat its archrival Apple for the first time in three years to become the country’s largest smartphone maker.

As per the report, Samsung captured the first position in the US Smartphone Market in the third quarter of 2020 with a 33.7% share. Whereas, Apple came second with a 30.2% market share, followed by LG in the third place with a 14.7% share.

The report says that Samsung’s market share grew 6.7% YoY. The company achieved this feat with the help of its budget and mid-range devices, in addition to flagship models like Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy Z Fold2.

Above all, Apple’s delayed iPhone 12 series launch further helped the South Korean tech giant to become the US’s largest smartphone brand after 3 years. Samsung was in this position back in Q2 2017.

That’s not all, Samsung was also the world’s largest smartphone brand in the last quarter. That said, the company’s market share may drop in this quarter in the US as the iPhone 12 series is expected to sell exceptionally well despite the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

UP NEXT: Samsung and LG to launch TVs with miniLED displays in 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected smartphone markets around the world including the US. The latest report on the country by Counterpoint Research shows the sell-through volumes to have fallen 25% in Q2 2020. Samsung remained the least affected while Chinese OEMs like ZTE, OnePlus and Lenovo-owned Motorola were hit the most.

Unlike other regions, the US is primarily an offline and postpaid smartphone market. Since most brick and mortar stores were closed as part of lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus from mid-March, April was the weakest month for smartphone sell-through.

However, the market began to recover from May till June in such a fashion that the sales were stronger than that of June 2019. This occurred due to the opening of carrier and retail stores supported by pent-up demand.

Talking about OEMs, the sell-through declined for all the major players, however, Samsung remained the strongest with only 10% drop followed by Alcatel at 11%. Whereas, sales of Apple and LG decreased by 23% and 35% respectively.

On the other hand, ZTE was the most affected company with 68% dip. Similar story for Lenovo-owned Motorola (62%) and OnePlus (60%), both of which launched their most expensive flagship smartphones in the second quarter of 2020.

Further, Samsung Galaxy S20 series activations were 38% less than that of Galaxy S10 series in the first four months. But Apple iPhone SE 2020 sold well as over 30% of buyers upgraded from either iPhone 6s or older models. Interestingly, 26% of new users were one who switched from Android, which happens to be higher than normal Android to iOS switching.

Though the US smartphone market is slowly recovering, we will have to wait and see how it responds when Samsung and Apple launch their new products starting next month.

UP NEXT: India smartphone market declined by 48% in Q2 2020, Realme slipped to fifth position

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