Sinking Sales
Smartphone companies from Japan and China, which once claimed they would surpass Samsung Electronics, are sequentially withdrawing from the business. This is due to receiving evaluations that their quality and price competitiveness are subpar. Samsung and Apple outperformed them in the high-end market, and they were unable to withstand the competition from the mid to low-end market dominated by Samsung's Galaxy A line.
Japan, in particular, has minimal presence even in its domestic market. Sony’s Xperia is one of the few left standing, yet it only ranks fourth in market share.
According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung ranked second in the Japanese smartphone market in the first quarter of this year with a market share of 13.5%. Apple ranked first with a 56.8% share, followed by Sharp at 9.2% and Sony at 6.5%.
In the Japanese smartphone market, Apple holds a dominant position. Although Samsung struggled with anti-Korean sentiments, it has steadily increased its market share from 5.2% in 2017 to 13.5% in 2023. Sharp, which was acquired by Taiwan’s Foxconn during the same period, also rose from 5.2% to 10%.
In this challenging environment, even Sony, the pride of Japan, is struggling and Japanese electronics manufacturers jumping into the smartphone market are sequentially withdrawing. Balmuda ambitiously launched the Balmuda Phone, but withdrew from the business after just over a year amid controversies over high pricing. Kyocera, which launched the Kyocera QCP-6035, the first smartphone in the U.S in 2001, declared its withdrawal early this year. They had expanded their territory by acquiring the mobile phone division of Sanyo in 2008, but gradually lost favor in the market.
The predecessor of Fujitsu, FCNT, also announced the suspension of handset production and sales due to fundraising problems on May 30. Panasonic and NEC had already withdrawn from the personal smartphone sector in 2013.
The situation in China is better than in Japan. Last year, Xiaomi ranked third in the global market share at 13%. According to market research firm Canalys, Samsung ranked first with 22%, followed by Apple with 19%.
However, except for Xiaomi, Chinese companies are packing up sequentially while struggling in Europe. According to the same research firm, OPPO’s market share in the Western European smartphone market in the first quarter of this year was recorded at 3%. Last year it was 5%, and shipments this year were only 700,000 units, a 53% drop from 1.4 million units last year. It was the largest drop among the top five companies.
Following OPPO and OnePlus’s announcement of withdrawal in June last month, Realme and VIVO also announced the end of their business. Notably, Nokia has sued OPPO and OnePlus in Germany for infringing on 5G patent technology. As a result, a German court sided with Nokia, thus prohibiting the sale of Chinese smartphones.