Samsung improves its LATAM share in 2019 despite a stagnant market

- February 28, 2020

Samsung retained its top spot in the LATAM region throughout 2019, and it managed to increase its smartphone shipment market share from 36.6% in 2018, to 38% by the end of 2019. The Korean tech giant increased its influence even as the entire segment stopped growing in LATAM because of sluggish replacement rates, according to Counterpoint Research.

Although Samsung did increase its smartphone shipment market share throughout last year, it also lost a couple of points in Q4 when its devices have covered 34.2% of the market, down from 36.6% a year before. But overall, the company has not only kept the crown throughout the year but it also bumped up its market share over the 12-month period ending December.

Samsung has more market share than the 2nd and 3rd largest vendors combined

Samsung was not the only smartphone vendor to increase its influence in the region. In fact, each of the top-three vendors in LATAM, including Motorola on 2nd place and Huawei on 3rd, have increased their market share in the region by a couple of points at the expense of other, smaller brands. Nevertheless, Motorola and Huawei are not a threat to Samsung yet. While Samsung held 38% of the LATAM market in 2019, Motorola secured the second spot on the podium with only 15.5% market share, while Huawei held 12.9% of the segment. Even if these two companies would combine forces, that would still not be enough to overtake Samsung.

Apple is even less of a threat in the region, as it was the 5th largest vendor with just a 3.6% market share, down 1% from 2018. However, sales for the company have picked up in Q4 thanks to the iPhone 11 which has been selling well globally, so 2020 might look a bit different. The report doesn't go into detail as to which Galaxy smartphones were the most popular in LATAM, but if the region reflects the global market in any capacity then the Galaxy A10 and Galaxy A50 would be fair guesses.