Questions Raised After Telsyte Spruiks Apple Over Android Devices
Local research group Telsyte who don’t have access to information on the sell through of smartphones from Australia’s #1 reseller JB Hi Fi or the likes of Harvey Norman who now account for large volume sales of smartphones, is now claiming that Huawei smartphone sales in Australia have fallen, information that ChannelNews was telling readers about six months ago after their handsets were stripped from carriers and resellers.
According to Telsyte’s Australian Smartphone & Wearable Devices Market Study 2020-24 sales of Android phones fell by 7 per cent during January to July, despite this Apple was only able to lift sales by 1.1 percentage points, according to the Telsyte report and this was after they were forced to release a new cheap iPhone to stay competitive.
Telsyte claims Apple now has 44.3 per cent market share making it the most popular phone maker in Australia, this is despite JB Hi Fi who sell both Apple and Android devices selling more Android based devices than Apple.
Huawei, who claim that they overtook Samsung to become the world’s No. 1 phone maker in 2020 due primarily to their performance in China and despite being banned in markets like the USA.
Telsyte claims that Huawei suffered a 75 per cent decline in Australian handset sales between January and July, what’s not known is where this research came from as several people who ChannelNews has spoken to claim that Huawei sales were down over 50% half way through 2019. It’s also been widely reported that Huawei has slashed component orders for its forthcoming Mate 40 series products by 30%, according to sources from Taiwan’s handset supply chain makers.
Instead of releasing their research to the media organisations Telsyte gave the research exclusively to the Australian Financial Review in the hope that they can spruik sales of their research among businesses operating in the mobile phone market.
Foad Fadaghi, managing director of Telsyte claims that Apple’s success was achieved despite Apple’s mid-tier iPhone SE model being on the market only two of the six months that Telsyte measured in its study.
According to retail sources one of the hottest selling mid-tier devices has been Samsung’s A series range.
The research also failed to mention Samsung’s success in the top end of the premium market with their Galaxy S20 range which with some resellers have been a “top selling” smartphone.
Fadaghi claims the SE Model accounted for 13 per cent of iPhones sold in the entire period, not far behind the high-end iPhone 11, which accounted for 17 per cent of sales, Mr Fadaghi told The Australian Financial Review.
It’s also been revealed that Australians’ reliance on their phones only increased during the pandemic.
Telsyte’s research found that 45 per cent of smartphone users said they now spent more time on their phones than they did before the pandemic, Mr Fadaghi said.
No number was given as to how many people took part in this research or how the research was conducted.
Apple is expected to launch new iPhones sometime in September, although the new phones are not expected to come out until October because of COVID-19-related supply constraints.
Fadaghi claimed that Android device makers such as Samsung should find their users keener to upgrade than they have been for the past several years.
According to Samsung Vice President of Mobile Gary McGregor Samsung has witnessed a move to premium devices during the COVID-19 lockdown and that “Sales of their new range of Galaxy 20 5G devices are exceeding forecasts during this period.
According to Fadaghi part of the reason Apple did well compared with other phone makers was that it did a good job following consumers as they moved away from high-priced, premium phones and adopted mid-tier or low-end phones.
The research also failed to address the mid-tier market where brands such as Motorola, TCL and several Chinese brands are battling it out for share.
