While the Korean tech giant dominated the global phone shipments of Q1 2022 and also dominated the list of the best 5G selling smartphones of February this year, surprisingly Google smartphone shipment in North America went up by 380%.
North America phone shipments amounted to an impressive 39 million units in the first quarter of this year which is an increase of 3.7% year on year. Apple grew by 19% making it take up a market share of 51%, courtesy of the very popular flagship iPhone 13 which houses 5G connectivity.
The Korean tech giant, Samsung was able to up by 1% to take up 27% of the market share, thanks to its flagship S series and also one of the non-flagship A-series which was the best selling 5G smartphone as of February 2022. Motorola, which has a strong Q4 2021 performance was able to keep it upholding 10% of the market share, while TCL and Google finished the top five with a 4% and 3% market share respectively.
According to Canalys Analyst, Brian Lynch, The North American smartphone shipment was buoyed by Apple’s strong growth of which the iPhone 13 was the key driver. Furthermore, most US users still fancy the latest iPhone SE despite not being mmwave-enabled. The investment in the other C-Band and sub-6GHz will prove a major factor for the increase in shipment of the SE in the coming months.
Google smartphone shipment in North America takes a massive increase due to the traditional advertising campaigns plus the new NBA partnership. Nevertheless, Google smartphone shipment in North America is also buoyed by the new launch of most Pixel devices, speaking of the budget Pixel 6a, Pixel watch, and Pixel Buds. We even expect the Google smartphone shipment in North America and even globally to rise at the launch of the Pixel 7 series.
The increase of Google smartphone shipment in North America by 380%, is still limited by some factors
According to Lynch, high inflation places enormous pressure on carriers in North America as rate increases will be necessary. That is, the situation of high inflation and even the Russia-Ukraine crisis as well as the outbreak of the omicron variant coupled with unfavourable economic and climate conditions have affected phone shipments generally.
