Samsung is the world's number one smartphone brand, and the US is one of its most important markets. The South Korean firm's main competitor in the US is Apple, but OnePlus could also become a threat in the coming years, especially after LG's exit from the smartphone market.
According to the latest report from market research firm Counterpoint Research, Samsung's growth in the US smartphone market was modest compared to its rivals Apple, Motorola, and OnePlus. The South Korean firm saw a 17% year-over-year growth in the first half of 2021. According to analysts, Samsung could've had better growth if it had the inventory to satisfy the demand. Apparently, the Galaxy A32 5G was a big hit in the US, thanks to T-Mobile’s ‘5G for All’ campaign.
OnePlus emerged as the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the US, with year-over-year growth of a whopping 428%. That's 4.28x sales in the first of this year compared to the first half of 2020. However, we need to keep it in our minds that OnePlus had a minuscule market share in the US, and growing at 4.28x might still not help the company enough. It could still pose a significant threat to Samsung over the next few years. The OnePlus N100 and the OnePlus N10 5G were the best-selling OnePlus phones in the country. LG's exit from the smartphone market helped OnePlus.
Motorola showed an 83% year-over-year growth, while Nokia also saw a shift in momentum with 35% growth in the first half of 2021. Apple's year-over-year growth was 53%, which is impressive, especially considering that it is the market leader in the US smartphone market. It acquires more than half the market share and ships twice as many smartphones as Samsung does. Google's market share declined 7% when compared to the first half of 2020, while LG's exit meant that its market share decline was 35%. ZTE's market share declined 77% in the US.
Senior Analyst Hanish Bhatia said that the current chip shortage problem has tightened the smartphone supply in the US, and Samsung has prioritized shipping high-end smartphones instead of Galaxy A series devices in the country. This move could help the company in increasing its profitability. Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 on August 11, which could help it improve its growth in the second half of this year.
