Samsung has been Latin America's biggest smartphone brand for a decade. In the first quarter of this year, the company had the highest market share in the region's smartphone market. However, there is some cause for worry, and the company's sales haven't matched the average sales rise.
Samsung was Latin America's biggest smartphone brand in Q1 2024
According to the latest numbers from market research firm Canalys, Samsung was the biggest smartphone brand in Latin America in terms of unit shipments. The South Korean firm shipped over 11.1 million smartphones during Q1 2024, a 6% rise compared to its figures from Q1 2023.
Samsung's smartphone market share was 32% during the quarter, 6 percentage points down from the first quarter of 2023. That's some cause for worry, as the overall smartphone market in the region grew at a pace of 26%, while Samsung grew at just 6%. This means most other smartphone brands grew at a much higher pace.
As you can see in the tablet above, Xiaomi (including POCO and Redmi), which ranked third, experienced a whopping 45% annual growth to reach a market share of 15% and shipments of 5.3 million units.
Transsion's shipments grew an astonishing 215% to reach 3.4 million units and a market share of 10%. Honor's numbers are even more mind-boggling, as the company's shipments grew 293% to reach 2.6 million units and a market share of 7%.
Lenovo (including Motorola) is the only smartphone brand with a near-zero (1%) growth rate. It ranked second after Samsung. Its shipments reached 5.9 million, and its market share reached 17% in Q1 2024.
Smartphone sales in Latin America grew by 26% in Q1 2024 compared to 2023's first quarter. Most phones shipped in the region are low-end and mid-range devices, like Samsung's Galaxy A series.
Watch our video below to learn about Galaxy AI in Samsung smartphones and how it performs.
Smartphone brands might focus on buzzwords like AI, but most users are not looking at high-end devices. According to Canalys' report, only 7% of phones sold in Latin America were priced at $800 or above. In comparison, around 82% of phones sold in the region were priced under $400.
