Key Takeaways:

• Global handset market as well as smartphone market remained bearish during the month of August. Weaker market sentiment can be attributed to prospective mobile handset buyers waiting for new launches in September, as well as upcoming festive season during last quarter in US, India and other regions.
• During August 2018, Apple’s global sell-through outperformed all other major OEMs, including Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo in terms of MoM % growth. This was driven by higher demand in China and other countries, as supply-side channels cleared the inventory ahead of new iPhone launch in September 2018.
• The premium price-segment of $600-$800 gained overall market share, with iPhone 8/8 Plus sales push across regions to clear the inventories coupled with strong sell-through of other flagship models (such as Samsung GS9/S9 Plus and Note 9). Mid-range price segment also gained marginally, while Oppo A5 and Samsung J6 dominated this price segment.
• Monthly Research Topic: Counterpoint analysts attended MWC Americas 2018 and IFA 2018 during the month. 5G and IoT were the key focus areas at MWC Americas, followed by announcements by global MNOs and IoT value chain firms. Meanwhile, IFA 2018 focused on consumer electronics and appliances with focus on AI and voice-recognition technology.

Table of Contents

• Monthly Research Topic
  • MWC Americas 2018 and IFA 2018
• Global Market Status
  • Market Sizing – Demand & Supply / Price band
  • Market Share – Vendor / Price band
• Major Country Landscape
  • US Market Landscape
  • China Market Landscape
  • India Market Landscape
• Trends in Features and Specs
  • Hardware trends and feature adoption rates
  • Average feature sets
  • Vendor market share by feature set
• Hit Model Analysis