The global smartphone market saw positive momentum in June 2024, with Android devices at the forefront of the recovery, according to UBS analysts.
The bank told investors in a note that total sell-through for smartphones in June reached 97.3 million units, marking a 6.2% year-over-year (YoY) increase and a 3.5% month-over-month (MoM) rise. This continues a trend of sequential YoY sell-through growth observed in April and May.
The U.S. market demonstrated significant improvement, says UBS, with sell-through rising by 5.0% YoY, a rebound from negative growth in the previous months.
They state that China maintained its growth trajectory with a 4.4% YoY increase, while Europe and the rest of the world (ROW) experienced robust recoveries at 19.8% and 8.3% YoY, respectively. In contrast, India is said to have continued to struggle, posting a 6.9% YoY decline, marking its fifth consecutive month of negative growth.
UBS analysts note that Android OEMs, including Samsung, Xiaomi, and Vivo, led the recovery with notable YoY sell-through improvements of 1.6%, 24.2%, and 8.9%, respectively.
Transsion and Honor also reportedly recorded positive growth at 9.5% and 16.2%. However, Oppo remained an outlier with a 10.8% YoY decline. Huawei's sell-through surged by 47.5% YoY to 4.1 million units.
In contrast, iPhone's performance showed early signs of stabilization, achieving a positive YoY sell-through growth of 1.2% for the first time this year. This modest rebound suggests that iPhones are beginning to regain some market stability.
Meanwhile, Samsung's Galaxy S24 series maintained steady sell-through numbers, with 2.8 million units sold in June and a total of 9.7 million units for the second quarter of 2024, according to the bank. The high-end Ultra model continued to be popular, comprising 49% of the S24 series' year-to-date sales.
UBS analysts remain selectively positive on certain smartphone supply chain companies, favoring LG Innotek, Maxscend, MediaTek, Samsung, SEMCO, SK Hynix, Sunny Optical, TDK, and TSMC. They remain cautious on LG Display and SMIC, maintaining a neutral rating on Apple and a buy rating on Xiaomi.