Smartphone priced under $150 grew from 90 million in 1Q23 to 120 million in 1Q24, marking a 33 percent growth, Omdia said in its research report.
The ultra-low-cost phones priced at $90 or less, have achieved 87 percent year-on-year growth to 34 million in 1Q24 from 18 million in 1Q23, according to the latest Omdia Smartphone Model Market Tracker.
The report said smartphone replacement cycle in emerging markets is shorter compared to developed countries, according to Omdia’s consumer survey. “This is due to the poor performance and shorter security and OS support period of cheap smartphones,” Aaron West, Senior Analyst in Omdia’s Smartphone group, said.
The expanding emerging markets are increasing the demand for low-end smartphones, as smartphone makers launch new low-priced models in countries such as India.
The report said mid-end phones, priced between $151 and $600, accounted for 107 million shipments in 1Q24 from 109 million in 1Q23. The chart shows a negative year-on-year change in the mid-end segment in recent years, while the low-end segment has seen positive growth since 1Q23 and the high-end segment since 3Q23.
The high-end segment, including phones priced above $600, saw an increase of 3-million-unit in Q1 2024 compared to 1Q23, rising from 70 million to 73 million.
Samsung sold 14.3 million units of Galaxy S24 series in 1Q24. This is an improvement over last year’s S23 series, which shipped 11.8 million units in 1Q23.
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra achieved a 30 percent increase in shipments compared to the S23 Ultra in 1Q23. This growth is attributed to the rising demand for premium phones growing, particularly top-of-the-range models.
Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max emerged as the most popular phone of 1Q24, with 11.5 million shipments. This trend indicates that more consumers are opting for the Pro or Ultra versions of new releases over the baseline iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S24 phone models.
