South African smartphone sales rose by 7.2% in 2018

as declared in GfK South Africa's latest report showed that the local smartphone market enjoyed substantial growth in 2018, despite a poor performance in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, however, unit sale growth declined by 8.7% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Smartphones costing R6,000 and above accounted for 9.7% of all unit sales in 2018, as well as 50% in total market value. Smartphones costing under R1,500 accounted for 61% of unit sales, but just 17% of market value. "South Africa's smartphone market has fragmented into low, mid, and high-end segments, with operators focusing for much of 2018 on driving volume sales in the entry-level and lower-end of the market," said GfK South Africa.

Gartner: Global smartphone sales stall in Q4

This led to a flat-growth market in the fourth quarter of 2018 (Table 1)."Sales of Apple iPhones hit 64.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018, a decline of 11.8 percent year over year. This double-digit decline made Apple experience the biggest decline in growth for the quarter among the top five global smartphone vendors. Both these challenges limit Apple's unit sales growth prospects," added Gupta. As a result, Samsung's smartphone sales declined by 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. Samsung lost market share in Greater China, Western Europe and Latin America, which contributed greatly to an overall 8.2 percent fall in its smartphone sales in 2018.

Apple's iPhone still holds commanding lead in smartphone sales in Japan

as informed in While Apple's shipments in the Japanese smartphone market dipped 10.5 percent year-over-year in the December quarter, the iPhone still enjoys overwhelming popularity there, according to new research data. The company maintained a 56 percent share in the December quarter and topped 50 percent annually for the first time in 2018, Canalys said. This was, however, because of "aggressive subsidies" from carriers, meant to offset lower demand for the iPhone XS and XS Max due to their high prices. Apple's average sales price (ASP) fell to $744 versus $794 a year ago, and 2015's iPhone 6s actually saw shipments increase thanks to local carrier NTT Docomo, which used the device in a low-cost subscription plan. The company controls just 1 percent of the Indian smartphone market, and Chinese sales dropped 26.7 percent in Q4.

collected by :John Smith