The battle for the number 1 and 2 spot in the Australian smartphone market will be a duel between Apple and Samsung for some time to come. Unlike the rest of the world, Apple sits atop of the list, although that margin slips every quarter, most likely as more people come to their senses :p.
Remember this is a graph of total devices sold, so that’s the iPhone against all of Samsungs devices, clearly, Australians love their iPhones, if this was New Zealand I’d understand!
The real story in Australia is the battle for the 3rd, 4th and 5th places. These OEMs are the ones who are providing affordable smartphones, on the whole. Within that list, Alcatel maintains is position as the 3rd largest smartphone vendor in Australia, with Huawei and ZTE rounding out the top 5 lit.
You’ll notice that all 3 of the lower place winners have all measures double-digit growth, whilst Apple has actually fallen back. Why? I would suggest the real reason is multifactorial including the fact that a new iPhone is about to launch. However as Smartphones become more ubiquitous but conversely, the price of the higher ends device continues to increase those at the lower end of the smartphone market have no choice but to seek out devices at the lower price points. As this market grows so do the market share of those OEMS.
Secondly, the devices in the low to mid end are improving, so people who may have opted for a more expensive device previously can now grab a device like the Alcatel Idol 4 (the device Blackberry used as the frame for their latest Android powered device).
In our quick hands on with the Alcatel Idol 4 range Chris was impressed with the overall feel and base performance of the device. With devices such as this entering the market providing both value for money and acceptable performance, we may, in fact, be entering the dawn of true consumerisation of smartphones where feature quality grows down the range and the price continues to drop.
While the big boys of the smartphone market have a commanding lead right now those OEMs better continue to iterate of their products, because as the core technology decreases in price there could soon be no real reason to buy a $1000 smartphone except as a luxury statement.
Editor Note: The IDC report is available to purchase from IDC
Yep, just wasted a few minutes trying to work out which coloured line represented which manufacturer – thanks for that!
suprised to see ZTE and Alcatel on the list, while no sign of LG, HTC and sony
Hi Sammy, this is a volume based report. LG, HTC and Sony don’t dominate the upper categorise and aren’t major contenders in the mid to lower end either. Drop by the phone table at Coles or Wollies and see what brads are there!