Late last year we wrote about how everyone hated Apple (APPL US) and it might potentially be time to look at the stock as negative sentiment was high. Negative sentiment was high post reports that China was going after the company. It appears though that despite all the headwinds, Apple still reigns supreme. They are still number one when it comes to Smartphone sales in the premium segment. Counterpoint Research conducted research pointing out Apple’s dominance;
Apple led the global premium smartphone segment capturing 47% share of the segment, followed by Samsung (22%), Huawei (12%), vivo (5%), OPPO (5%) and Xiaomi (3%).
From an investor perspective there have been a lot of fear that growth is stalling. . Counterpoint research findings point towards the opposite. The global smartphone premium segment grew at close to 20% whilst the overall market declined with 5%. Majority of growth in premium segment was driven by Apple.
Source: Counterpoint Research
Apple had in Q3 over 61% market share of smartphones in the price range between $600-800. The company also dominated the super-premium segment with 79% market share for phones costing $800 and above.
Furthermore, Apple dominated the premium segments in most regions in the world with not being number one in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Source: Counterpoint Research
With market sentiment continuing be negative, Apple’s fundamentals resilience can be interpreted as positive. It continues its dominance in the premium market segments for smartphones. With the continued volatile stock market, one could potentially hedge an investment in Apple with shorting a tech sector ETF such as XLK.
