Apple Shifted iPhone Supply to North America in Q1, Grabbed 51% Share: Canalys

North American smartphone shipments reached 39 million units in Q1 “buoyed by Apple’s strong growth,” said Canalys Thursday. The iPhone 13’s “strong performance” drove a 19% increase to 19.9 million shipments, giving Apple 51% market share in the quarter, said analyst Brian Lynch. With global demand “more uncertain,” Apple shifted more devices back into North America after prioritizing other regions in Q4, allowing it to fulfill more demand and deliver on backorders from the previous quarter, Lynch said. The launch of the latest iPhone SE gave the region's “fiercely loyal iOS users" an affordable option. Though the SE isn' mmWave-enabled, carriers’ increasing investments in C-band and sub-6GHz spectrums “will open the door for the iPhone SE’s market growth in the coming quarters,” Lynch said. High inflation is putting pressure on North American carriers “as rate increases will be necessary,” said Lynch. “Heavy discounting and high trade-in values are being used to lure in and retain customers for the region’s biggest telcos, easing pressure on the high-end smartphone market,” Lynch said. Supply will remain a bottleneck for leading vendors in Q2, but North America will remain a priority and is likely to maintain healthy supply levels, he said. “The North American market is well placed to avoid any significant volatility in shipments despite the uncertain outlook of its economy.” Samsung was up 1% to 10.5 million shipments in Q1, for 27% share on sales of new S and A series devices with a range of price points, he said. Lenovo’s Motorola smartphones came in third with 10% share on 2.6 million shipments after “taking over LG’s former carrier slots and supply capacity.” TCL was fourth with 4% share on 1.7 million shipments; Google had 3% share on 200,000 shipments.