Counterpoint: Global smartphone shipments to grow 7% year-on-year in H1 2024

The global smartphone market saw a 7% year-on-year increase in total shipments in the first half of 2024. According to the latest data from Counterpoint, shipments of outsourced designed smartphones have also increased, with independent design companies/original design manufacturers (ODM/IDH) seeing a 6% year-on-year increase in shipments in the first half of 2024. The growth of Chinese OEMs in the local market as well as in some overseas markets is the main reason for the growth of ODM/IDH.

Commenting on the market dynamics, Senior Research Analyst Ivan Lam said: “The top eight ODM/IDH companies, including Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies, accounted for more than 97% of the overall design outsourcing shipments. Longcheer maintained its growth momentum with a 50% year-on-year shipment growth in the first half of the year. Xiaomi's performance improved in several key regions, including China, India, Caribbean and Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Huaqin's smartphone shipments declined in the first half of the year, but demand for wearable devices, PCs and server orders soared. We believe that Huaqin will witness an increase in smartphone orders in the second half of 2024. Wingtech also saw a decline due to reduced shipments from major Chinese OEMs. Overall, these three ODMs accounted for 3/4 of the total ODM shipments in the first half of the year.”

Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh said, “Among the Tier 2 ODM/IDH companies, Tinlong maintained its position with 8% shipment growth driven by Transsion and Lenovo brands. Maibowell was the fastest growing Tier 2 company with 50% annual growth. The main reason for this growth was the shipments of Transsion Group brands, which accounted for 2/3 of Maibowell’s shipments. Sinotech also achieved double-digit growth driven by the growth of Huawei and Honor shipments. Other ODM/IDHs that witnessed growth were FortuneShip and Hemiao Telecom.”

Counterpoint predicts that global smartphone shipments will grow 5% year-on-year in 2024, mainly driven by emerging markets. In addition, ODM/IDH's share of the global smartphone market is expected to remain at around 41% in 2024. Driven by devices launched in lower price ranges, the penetration rate of 5G smartphones will grow in the coming period, and the role of ODM/IDH will be important.