The Russian retail company M.Video-Eldorado summed up the development of the smartphone market in the first quarter of 2019, noting that by the end of the period January-March, the market grew by 8% in units and 18% in money to 6.8 million units and 112 , 8 billion rubles. The average price, therefore, increased by 9% year-on-year and reached 16,500 rubles. At the same time, the brand Honor became the market leader in unit sales for the first time – it accounted for more than a quarter of smartphones sold.
The brand Honor became the market leader for the first time in the quarter, surpassing Samsung and occupying more than a quarter of the market in units. The demand for smartphones of this brand has grown 2.5 times year on year. Earlier in 2018, two brands were in the lead in aggregate – Huawei and Honor – which, according to the results of the 1st quarter of 2018, accounted for about 16% of piece sales.
The top ten most popular smartphone models at the end of the quarter included six models at once Honor, including the brand's smartphones occupy the first three lines. The most popular in 2019 were budget Honor 7A, 7A Pro and one of the most popular 8X. In addition to Nonor, the top ten included three models from Samsung and one from Xiaomi. For comparison, a year earlier, according to the results of the first quarter of 2018, the top 10 models looked completely different: it included five Samsung models, three Honor and two Apple, and iPhone SE occupied the first line.
The top five telecom market leaders in piece sales have remained unchanged since 2018: Honor, Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi. Thus, three out of five brands are from China, which indicates the continued strengthening of Chinese players. The share of Chinese manufacturers in unit sales is approaching 50%.