Samsung Leads Recovery of Smartphone Demand in Latin America... Market Share at 40%

Monthly Smartphone Sales by Latin American Country. Graph = Counterpoint Monthly Smartphone Sales Tracker September 2022

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] Samsung Electronics' ultra-low-cost smartphone Galaxy A03 is leading the recovery of smartphone demand in the Latin American market.

According to the global market research firm Counterpoint's smartphone sales tracker for September 2022, smartphone sales in the Latin American region increased by nearly 10% compared to the previous month. This marks the second consecutive month of recovery since July, which recorded the lowest point since the spread of COVID-19.

The Latin American smartphone market was hit by macroeconomic uncertainties such as inflation and consumer downturn. Although monthly sales generally shrank compared to the previous year, Brazil and Mexico, which account for about 60% of the Latin American market, led the market recovery by increasing sales in September. Counterpoint analyzed that Brazil's government’s active fiscal support ahead of the presidential election was effective, and in Mexico, manufacturers and telecom companies aggressively held discount events to counter the sales decline.

Market share by company in the Latin American smartphone market. Graph = Counterpoint Monthly Smartphone Sales Tracker September 2022

Looking at market share by company, Samsung and Xiaomi significantly increased their market shares compared to the same period last year. Samsung recorded 40%, up 7 percentage points from the previous year, and Xiaomi recorded 5%, up 6 percentage points. This is attributed to strengthened promotions in August and September, which helped partially reduce the large accumulated inventory up to the second quarter.

The best-seller in the Latin American market is Samsung's Galaxy A03, which belongs to the ultra-low-cost segment of the A series. As a single model, it has recorded the highest annual cumulative sales since its launch.

Apple has not yet released the new iPhone 14 series in Latin American countries other than Mexico as of September, but the sales of the older iPhone 11 model increased, raising its market share from 3% to 6%. Honor, although having a small absolute share, is rapidly expanding its presence considering it entered the region last year.

Jin-seok Park, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, "Recent moves by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi establishing a smartphone production base in Argentina and Oppo considering smartphone production in Brazil indicate active targeting of the Latin American market by Chinese brands," adding, "As a major emerging market, Latin America is likely to become one of the markets to watch most closely in the next one to two years."