Following six straight quarters of YoY decline, the Australian mobile phone market returned to growth as it shipped 2.93m mobile phones in Q4, 2016 compared to 2.84m YoY - a 3.2% growth.
International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, shows 2.79m of these were smartphones and the remainder feature phones - a customer base still exists for 3G feature phones even on the back of the announcements from telecom operators to shut down their 2G network across the country in 2017.
iOS has become the most popular operating system (OS) in Australia at 54.9% overtaking Android at 44.6%.
Bilal Javed, Market Analyst at IDC Australia, said, “Despite new players such as the Google Pixel/XL it shows the unanticipated success of iPhone 7 range for the quarter with over 1.5m shipments.”
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Apple benefited from a strong two-year refresh cycle on iPhone 5/S post-paid contracts approached. Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus also helped fill a void left by Samsung Note 7.
Samsung at 15.6% experienced a 28.8% YoY decline. The impact of the of the Note 7 is evident here and makes the 2017 flagship even more critical for Samsung as it looks to gain share in Australia. Close to 80% of shipments came from the Galaxy S series flagship range.
Alcatel’s share grew to 6.9% from 6% YoY its stronghold in the low-to-mid-priced segment continued. Alcatel’s focus on a niche strategy, diversified product portfolio, along with its expanding channels allows it to maximise its customer reach.
Huawei established itself in the quarter with 4.7% market share as it focused on mid-tier, prepaid phones available through telecom operators. Huawei will be looking to drive average selling price (ASP) higher and compete in the high-priced segment with its recently launched Mate 9 as well as the new flagship P10 devices expected in first half of 2017.
Google with its impressive Pixel/XL grabbed 4.6% of the market through its exclusive partnership with Telstra and JB Hi-Fi. A Pixel/XL version two is expected mid-year.
OPPO with 2.9” market share grew a massive 700% YoY and will be the one to watch out for in 2017 as the battle among Android vendors heats up with HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony and ZTE competing for market share.
What remains to be seen is whether the multiple expected launches from Android vendors in the early half of 2017 and iOS later in the year will be able to inject further growth into a market that was showing signs of saturation.