New Zealand smartphone shipments surge 10% in 4Q23

New Zealand smartphone market grew by 10% year-on-year (YoY) and 14% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in 4Q23, shipping 396,000 units, according to IDC.

The premium segment (US$1000+) outperformed the market with its share reaching 28% in 4Q23 vs 18% in 4Q22. This was largely driven by the iPhone 15 Pro range which had much higher shipments compared to the iPhone 14 Pro range a year ago. The affordable 4G smartphones in the mid-segments (US$100<US$400), particularly the Samsung Galaxy A series, also grew in popularity with the share of this segment reaching 42% in 4Q23 compared to 40% in 4Q22. The average selling prices continued to rise reaching US$612, a YoY increase of 16%.

“The vendors and channels raised their promotional activities in the year-end holiday period to spur some growth in an otherwise weak consumer market and after a particularly slow first half of the year. Vendors had started stocking up from late 3Q23 in anticipation for the end of year sales period,” says Kiranjeet Kaur, Associate Research Director, Devices Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Samsung continued to lead the market as its Galaxy A series performed well along with the new addition Galaxy S23 FE, while also preparing for the flagship Galaxy S24 launch in January 2024. Apple’s iPhone 15 series accounted for majority of its shipment in 4Q23. OPPO’s shipment dropped YoY and QoQ largely due to higher sell-in that happened in 3Q23.

IDC