Recent industry reports show that the piecemeal sales of flagship smartphones from Apple and Samsung have shrunk to about a quarter of the total market. This snapshot comes from comments cited by Vedomosti, drawing on the insights of Tagir Kalimullin, the vice president of M.Video-Eldorado.
In the early days of last year and reaching a high point over the course of 2021, the share of these two brands together exceeded 70 percent. A representative from M.Video-Eldorado noted this shift, highlighting how the landscape changed as competition intensified.
In terms of value, flagships from Apple and Samsung still command roughly half of the market. Kalimullin remarked that the current market situation resembles the pattern seen in 2013, a period when expensive smartphones from these brands consistently captured more than half of all mobile-device sales.
Meanwhile, flagships from Apple and Samsung have been overtaken by Chinese manufacturers, whose market presence has been growing swiftly. Kalimullin described the latest share for these brands as slightly over 70 percent, signaling a notable tilt toward other players in the segment.
Evgeny Kharitonov, editor-in-chief of the Ferra.ru portal, offered a perspective on the dampening demand for Apple smartphones. He attributed this to several Western sanctions restricting certain features, alongside a broader shift in consumer interest as parallel imports alter the competitive landscape with Samsung as well.
There is also a note about the recent performance of popular models in Russia, with the iPhone 14 Plus 128 GB cited as experiencing a record drop in demand in the domestic market.