Smartphone shipments in Latin America and the Caribbean dropped 13% year-on-year in Q3 2022, with the decline attributed to slowing consumer demand, resulting in declines and stagnation for most top brands.
Counterpoint Research principal analyst Tina Lu said shipments in the quarter were also impacted by “high inventories” carried over from the previous quarter. During this period several vendors stocked up but consumer demand waned, warning Q4 will also see a hit.
“It resulted in excess inventories in most sales channels, and Q3 2022 mainly corrected it. But still, the issue has not been completely fixed and the sales channels will feel the pain of higher-than-acceptable inventories in Q4 2022 too,” said Lu.
Consumer demand in Latin America was hit due to a regional economic crisis caused by high inflation rates, dipping currency values, and political change. Manufacturers have launched massive promotional campaigns to address low sales, said Lu.
Breaking down market share, leader Samsung saw its share actually increase from 36% to 40%; Motorola dipped from 23% to 22%; Xiaomi also saw a gain from 10% to 13%; Apple’s share stagnated at 4%, and Oppo moved up from 10% to 13%.
Counterpoint Research analyst Andres Silva said: “Samsung and Xiaomi were the biggest share gainers year-on-year during the quarter. Samsung remained the absolute leader in the region and all the individual countries. Xiaomi continued to grow by entering new countries and expanding both the operator and its own retail channels. This drove Xiaomi’s share and shipment volume growth in the region.”
Silva noted the sub-$700 price bracket saw the highest growth, while the over US$150 mark saw the biggest year-on-year drop, “reflecting the lack of adequate entry-level smartphone supplies from the biggest brands, especially Motorola.”
