Counterpoint: European smartphone shipments to grow 10% in Q1 2024

According to Counterpoint's monitoring, European smartphone shipments finally resumed growth in the first quarter of 2024, with a year-on-year increase of 10%. This marks the first time that the region has achieved year-on-year shipment growth since the third quarter of 2021, indicating that the worst is over. However, shipments are still far below pre-pandemic levels, and given that Europe's shipments in the first quarter of 2023 were the lowest in more than a decade, market growth in the coming year should be treated with caution.

Market summary:

Samsung grew 7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2024, ending a streak of declines since the fourth quarter of 2021. Samsung's AI-powered S24 series has been very popular, and the brand's new A35 and A55 smartphones, which were launched at the end of the quarter, should maintain momentum in the second quarter.

Apple's shipments fell 1% year-over-year as iPhone 15 sales continued to decline due to seasonal factors. With no iPhone SE expected in 2024, shipments should continue to decline until the iPhone 16 is launched later this year.

Xiaomi's shipments grew 11% year-over-year, continuing its recovery after a difficult few years. Xiaomi performed particularly well in Western Europe, especially in Spain and Italy, thanks in large part to the new Redmi Note 13 series. Xiaomi struggled in Central and Eastern Europe, where growth at Samsung and TECNO caused Xiaomi's share to fall to its lowest level since the first quarter of 2022.

Realme's shipments grew 59% year-on-year, driven by growth in Western European markets and a sharp rebound in key markets such as Italy and Spain. Realme also grew in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary. Its C series smartphones continued to be bestsellers, although new series also made an impact.

Honor's shipments grew 67% year-on-year, surpassing OPPO for the first time and ranking fifth in Europe. This was mainly driven by the Western European market, where the company's shipments more than doubled compared to last year thanks to some impressive new devices, including the Magic V2, Magic 6 and Honor 90.