Australian smartphone market falls 3.7% in 1H18

The Australian smartphone market contracted 3.7% year on year during the first half of 2018, with 4.3 million units sold, according to Australian technology analyst Telsyte.

Contributing to the decline, Telsyte said its research indicates that around a third of smartphone owners are showing signs of holding off on buying a new device until the arrival of 5G, the next generation of mobile technology.

This could impact the market’s performance for the next 18 months until 5G models become widely available.

Users of premium devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S9 and the iPhone X are most likely to be willing to wait for 5G handsets at around 50%, while users currently on a contract are also more willing to wait.

Android sales fell 7% during the quarter to just under 2.3 million units, but the platform maintained a market share lead over Apple, accounting for 53% of shipments to Apple’s 47%.

But iPhone sales for the quarter grew 2% to around 2 million units, and Apple remained the top selling individual smartphone vendor in the market, Telsyte said. Samsung, Oppo and Huawei rounded out the top four.

“Android smartphone sales had a sobering first half in 2018 after a strong upgrade year in 2017,” Telsyte Senior Analyst Alvin Lee said. “The balance of 2018 could remain in favour of Apple with more iPhone users expected to be coming out of contract this year.”

Meanwhile, smartwatch sales grew an estimated 80% year on year during the six-month period to reach 680,000 units, Telsyte said, estimating that 15% of smartphone users are now using a smartwatch.

Apple has a more than 50% share of the smartwatch market, but other vendors including Fitbit, Samsung and Garmin are starting to gain traction.

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