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HTC is pushed out of the top five as Apple also loses market share in Q2 2016.
Mobile phone shipments in Australia slipped further to just 1.8 million in the second quarter of 2016, down 18% from 2.2 million a year previously.
The market thus remains on a downward trend: according to figures from IDC, this is the third consecutive quarter of double digit year-on-year decline. Smartphones accounted for 1.7 million of the Q2 shipments.
The research company blamed the continuing downward slide on the fact that consumers are waiting for the next major smartphone launches by leading vendors.
IDC analyst Bilal Javed noted that shipments are increasingly driven by refresh cycles rather than first-time purchases and said the recent slowdown may simply be the calm before the storm, as major launches from Apple, Samsung and the new Google Nexus device are pending in the coming quarter.
“These product launches are likely to return the market to positive growth YoY and shipments are expected to break the 2 million barrier,” added Bilal.
Market leader Apple continued to struggle in Q2 and saw its market share fall from 48% in the first quarter of this year to 40% in the recent quarter. Samsung remained in second place with an improved market share of 33%, however.
“Whilst the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge was locking horns with Apple devices, the refreshed J series (J1, J1 Mini and J3) along with the still successful Galaxy S5 was Samsung’s answer to the other Android vendors in the low/mid-market space,” said Bilal.
Alcatel controls just over 5% of the smartphone market, while Huawei took fourth spot with a 4% market share. ZTE rounded out the top five in Australia. LG Electronics and HTC had a disappointing quarter as the much-hyped LG G5 and HTC 10 devices did not live up to expectations, pushing HTC out of the top five.
“Australian consumers are becoming increasingly aware of alternative buying options in smartphones and the lack of innovation, minimal marketing and high price point of the device forced HTC out of the top 5. A major surprise came from Oppo, [which] experienced triple-digit growth and could move onto challenging the likes of HTC, Huawei, LG and Microsoft in the near future,”said Bilal.
