Motorola and Nokia are set to go head to head in the Australian smartphone market as Chinese brands such as Oppo, TCL, Vivo and Realme struggle to grow sales.

Nokia, a European brand who also manufacture in Europe, and Motorola, a US brand, are the challengers creating problems for the debt-strapped Oppo and TCL, who on Friday moved to lay off several senior employees at TCL Mobile in Sydney.

Nokia, who last year appointed Brendan Folitarik as Country Manager of the HMD Global operation, has witnessed significant growth in the Australian market during the past 12 months, according to Folitarik, especially in the value and affordable premium markets.

Next weekend, Nokia is set to release a new range of smartphones that will be officially launched at Mobile World Congress in Australia. ChannelNews has already been briefed on the range, which are embargoed to coincide with MWC.

Despite several Chinese web sites are running the full story on the new Nokia range.

According to Folitarik, Nokia, whose products are sold via carriers and in the open market via retailers such as JB Hi-Fi, who now account for a major share of smartphone sales in Australia – their share of the overall market has grown during the past 12 months.

ChannelNews understands that the growth is double digit. In Comparison, OMC Electronics, the distributor of Oppo smartphones in Australia, last reported that sales of their Oppo and Realme smartphones fell 23 per cent last year. The Company declared $8.2M in losses and another linked business that sells smartphones a $10.2M loss, with questions being raised as to whether they have a future in Australia.

In comparison, Motorola reported more than 50 per cent growth last year, with analysts claiming this growth came from Chinese-branded smartphones.

The new Nokia range, that is set to be revealed at the weekend, is set to shake up the value market.

“We achieved growth across all three carriers and in the open market last year,” claims Folitarik.

“I am confident that that growth will continue this year, especially with what we have coming for the Australian market which is very smartphone and value savvy.” he said.

The takeaway from this morning’s briefing with European executives of HMD Global is that the Company is more than happy competing in the value and affordable premium market up to $500 and that they are not planning to compete in the over $1,000 smartphone market where Motorola is heading.

According to analysts, HMD Global has been witnessing “consistent” growth globally.

One market that has taken to Nokia devices is the US, where late last year Nokia announced its largest expansion since launching in the market more than four years ago.

IDC claim Nokia phones are back among the top five smartphone companies in 23 markets in Q2 2022.

Strategy Analytics and IDC also claim Nokia smartphone shipments more than tripled in the US in 2022 and have grown double digit in Australia.

The higher percentage of Nokia smartphones in overall handset volume combined with better performance in markets like the US and Australia resulted in all-time high average selling prices for HMD Global.

According to HMD Global management Australians are hanging onto their smartphones longer, especially in the value and affordable premium market.