Apple Increased US Smartphone Market Share Last Quarter Despite Shipment Decline [Report]

US smartphone shipments declined 24% year over year in the second quarter of 2023, according to a new report from Counterpoint Research. This was the third consecutive quarter of YoY declines for the United States market where customers have been hesitant to upgrade devices amid market uncertainty.

Android smartphone shipments declined 38% for the quarter, while Apple shipments fell just 6% YoY. This led to a increase in market share for Apple with its share of shipments reaching 55%, up from 45% the previous year.

Associate Research Director Hanish Bhatia noted, "Despite fewer shipments from Apple compared to the same quarter last year, the brand's share of shipments was still up 10% YoY. Apple's resilience was driven by strong promotions across postpaid and prepaid. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile continued to offer $800+ promo credits for the iPhone 14 while old-generation iPhones were also steeply discounted across prepaid. We are seeing no weakness in the overall promotional activity. In fact, we observed new highs for trade-in credit with Verizon offering up to $1,100 for the Pixel Fold. Google's Pixel also grew from a small base and launched its old-generation Pixel 6a in the prepaid channel for the first time to compete with the iPhone 11. Both devices were heavily subsidized in prepaid channels."


Director of North America Research Jeff Fieldhack said, "AT&T and T-Mobile reported positive net adds, but Verizon reported negative net adds within its consumer segment for the second consecutive quarter. The net-add activity remains comparable to last year, but the upgrade rates have been lower, causing overall weakness in demand. Near-record low churn has also had a dampening effect on new device sales. Weakness is likely to continue through the start of Q3 2023, but stronger iPhone 15 demand could offset weakness across Android."

More details in the full report linked below...

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