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Google is the only top five smartphone brand to show growth in the Apple-dominated US market

Published: Jul 28, 2023, 8:07 AM

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We all know the global smartphone market as a whole is struggling and has been struggling for quite some time now, as evidenced most recently by a Q2 2023 Canalys report estimating the industry's latest quarterly decline at 10 percent compared to the same period from last year.

Of course, some countries and regions are struggling significantly more than others, with Indian and Chinese shipments, for instance, only dropping by 1 and 5 percent respectively year-on-year during the last quarter and thus showing promising signs of a potential rebound on the horizon, unlike US sales numbers.

Samsung and TCL are not doing great

In fairness, we don't think any smartphone manufacturers can be truly content with their Q2 2023 shipment figures and market share stateside. Not in a quarter when overall regional sales were down a massive 24 percent from Q2 2022, and not right after two other three-month periods of year-on-year regression.

But Samsung and TCL must be exceptionally unhappy with their huge 37 and 69 percent declines respectively compared to the April - June timeframe of last year. After a seemingly very strong start at the local box-office that boosted its maker's slice of the US sales pie from 20 percent in Q4 2022 to 27 percent in Q1 2023, the high-end Galaxy S23 series clearly fizzled, contributing to a worrying market share decrease to 23 percent for the world's top handset vendor.

The Galaxy S23 family (pictured here) is probably not as successful in the US as Samsung had anticipated.

That's obviously enough to secure the silver medal spot (yet again) and keep bronze medalist Motorola at bay, but instead of gaining on Apple (as was the case back in Q2 2022), Samsung is losing precious ground, making us wonder what kind of gap we might be looking at after the iPhone 15 family launch.

While the foldable segment is pretty solid in the US and expected to continue growing at a steady pace, the hot new Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 are unlikely to keep up with the mainstream popularity of Apple's "conventional" next-gen iPhones, which could well drive the Cupertino-based tech giant over the 60 percent share mark in Q4 2023.

Until then, it remains to be seen if "TCL-Alcatel" can stop its own bleeding and prevent Google from moving into fourth place. The distance between the two was absolutely massive back in Q2 2022, when TCL stood at 7 percent share and Big G barely scored 1 percent of regional shipments, but now the numbers are tied at 3 percent, which brings us to...

Google's progress and Apple's small decline

Yes, the search giant behind those Pixel handsets you all love to hate can be (easily) considered the US smartphone market's strongest Q2 2023 performer thanks to a year-on-year jump of 48 percent in sales.

Curiously enough, Google's market share is actually not at an all-time high right now, dropping from 5 percent at the very end of last year, which is however extremely encouraging for the company's Q4 2023 perspectives, especially with the Pixel Fold already out and a further refined Pixel 8 duo around the corner.

As far as the champion is concerned, you can say Apple had a bittersweet quarter between April and June 2023, dipping 6 percent in iPhone sales compared to its own performance from the same period of 2022 but rising in share to 55 percent.

That means that more than one in two smartphones shipped to US end consumers in the second calendar quarter of this year were iPhones, which is an absolutely staggering stat... that Apple is likely to beat in both Q3 and Q4 2023.

Last but not necessarily least, Motorola can probably be happy that it was able to keep its year-on-year decline under that of Samsung. Still, a 17 percent decrease in shipments cannot be viewed too favorably, especially with the brand's market share stuck in single-digit territory once again.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.