North American smartphone shipments grew steadily in Q1 2022 with Google up 380%

The latest report from Canalys focuses on the North American smartphone market. Specifically, the estimated shipments for Q1 of 2022 are in and there are some trends noticed. To start, the overall smartphone market grew by 4% to 39 million units shipped compared to the 37.6 million shipped in the same quarter last year. It is noted this is despite “inflationary pressure”.

Google saw the most significant relative growth with 380% increase in shipments YoY. Google sold 1.2 million phones taking 3% market share for the quarter compared to 0.2 million it shipped during the same quarter last year. Canalys Research Analyst Runar Bjørhovde

explains “Google is on the offensive to take market share, building on its wide carrier presence and unprecedented investment in the Pixel brand, both on traditional advertising campaigns and a new NBA partnership.”

Meanwhile, Motorola (labeled as Lenovo on the charts) saw significant growth as well, shipping 4 million units this quarter compared to the 2.6 million shipped in Q2 ’21. “Motorola used its wide carrier presence – particularly with prepaid- and mid-range-focused carriers – to discover and rapidly leverage new opportunities, while also forming new supply partnerships.”

Apple took 51% market share and grew 19% YoY with 19.9 million units shipped. Samsung ranked second with 27% market share, though number of shipments remained about the same with only a 1% increase YoY – shipping to 10.5 million for the quarter. TCL ranked number 4 but saw a 21% decline in shipments YoY with 4% market share, shipping 1.4 million units – still above Google, though slightly.

Looking forward, the report notes that inflation puts pressure on US carriers to increase rates while high-discount and high-trade-in value offers are helping to retain customers buying higher-end devices. “The North American market is well placed to avoid any significant volatility in shipments despite the uncertain outlook of its economy.”

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