USA Q4 2016: Q4 Smartphone Rally Closes 2016

USA Q4 2016: Q4 Smartphone Rally Closes 2016

San Diego, Buenos Aires, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul

February 28, 2017

According to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor program, the US smartphone market grew a modest 1.1% year on year in 2016. After a slow start to the year, sales gained momentum during the second half of the year. Upgrades and switching grew in the second half, mainly due to the iPhone 7 launch and seasonal increases in promotions during the holidays. During Q4, US smartphone units grew 6.3% YoY.

Commenting on vendor performance during the quarter, Counterpoint Research Director Jeff Fieldhack added, “Apple was able to grow its smartphone market share to 38.7% in Q4. And, this is in a climate where US carriers are experiencing elongating upgrade cycles and some carriers seeing lower spending on devices. Apple was able to win record number of Android switchers during the 4^th quarter—partially aided by the removal of the Note 7 from the market. The company also has seen further demand shift to the Plus variant as well as higher memory configurations—both helping ASP’s. This shows the base still sees value within the Apple brand when many competitors are driving down costs within the flagship space. This positions Apple well for the Fall refresh.”

The Big 4 carriers saw smartphone activations decrease 1% YoY during Q4. Verizon and Sprint witnessed small 2% and 2.7% gains. T-Mobile activated 100k or 1% less smartphones. AT&T had a 7.6% decline in smartphone activations in 4Q16, but the company noted a growing BYOD trend.

Within carrier channels, OEM shares did not see dramatic year on year changes. Apple gained incremental share in all Tier 1 carriers. ZTE also witnessed share gains in AT&T and Sprint–much of the gains because of ZTE Grand X3 and ZTE Quest.

There was an increase of sales of >$200 Android smartphones—a trend expected to continue. Chief benefactors during the quarter were Samsung J-series, LG K-series, and ZTE. Low-cost Android devices also grew on the strength of national retailers BestBuy & Walmart, as well as sales within the Amazon channel.