Made in China smartphones have dominated the smartphone market in the United States in the second quarter of 2020, Canalys report said.
Smartphone vendors shipped 31.9 million smartphones in the United States in Q2, clocking 5 percent year-on-year decline and 11 percent quarter-on-quarter increase.
Resumption of Chinese factory operations at the end of March and stores reopening in May and June were key contributors to sequential market growth.
Apple and Samsung accounted for seven out of every 10 devices sold, and Apple established a new domestic record in Q2, shipping 15.0 million iPhones. Apple shipped 15 percent more of its flagship iPhone 11 than last year’s best-seller, the iPhone XR.
With the launch of the iPhone SE, Apple’s quarterly market share ballooned to 47 percent.
Samsung shipped 59 percent fewer Galaxy S20 5G series handsets than S10 series models in Q2 2019.
Canalys Analyst Vincent Thielke said: “As the coronavirus pandemic forced consumers to stay at home, 5G adoption in the US failed to take off. Store closures and virus fears limited interaction with demonstration models, tight consumer budgets further constrained spending power, and with scarce 5G network coverage in American suburbia, consumers saw plenty of reasons to buy a 4G device instead.”
“Despite the lackluster 5G roll-out so far, strong carrier marketing in coming quarters will be instrumental in catalyzing a multi-year transition period from LTE to 5G,” Vincent Thielke said in a research report.
Telecom operators such as Verizon Communications, T-Mobile US and AT&T are currently struggling to add subscribers to their 5G network.
Around 70 percent of smartphones shipped in the US in Q2 2020 were made in China, up from 60 percent the quarter before.
“Tensions between the US and China have escalated in recent years, creating a perpetual state of uncertainty for all smartphone vendors except Samsung and LG,” Vincent Thielke said.
