Latin America’s smartphone market grows 15% in 2024

Latest research from Canalys, now part of Omdia, reveals that the Latin American smartphone market grew 15% in 2024, achieving a record shipment of 137 million units. This growth was driven by a recovery in demand for devices, boosted by a replacement cycle and aggressive commercial offers from manufacturers. Samsung retained the pole position by growing its shipments 12% to 42.9 million units. Motorola held onto second place despite a 4% year-on-year decline, shipping 22.8 million units. Meanwhile, Xiaomi, in close competition, secured third place with 20% shipment growth, reaching 22.7 million units. The Chinese manufacturer continues to narrow the gap, positioning itself to potentially overtake Motorola in the region. TRANSSION seems to be consolidating its fourth place in the Latin American market by growing 40% and shipping 12.8 million units. HONOR, with a surprising 79% year-on-year growth, was placed in the top five for the first time, shipping 8.0 million units, mainly driven by its expansion in the Central American market where it achieved a year-on-year growth above 200%.

“The historic milestone of 137 million units of smartphones shipped to Latin America may make one think, at first glance, that by 2024 virtually all players in the smartphone market have won,” said Miguel Pérez, Senior Analyst at Canalys. “Emerging vendors such as Xiaomi, TRANSSION, HONOR, OPPO and realme achieved record shipments, spurring demand for devices and significantly increasing market competitiveness, particularly in the sub-US$300 price segment which accounted for 72% of total devices sold within the year. However, it is worth analyzing where this growth occurred and how it corresponds—either to the business strategy or to a temporary reaction to the dynamics of competitors.”

“From a competitive perspective, the Latin American smartphone market in 2024 was mainly characterized by a battle for market share in units,” added Pérez. “The dominant historical vendors, Samsung and Motorola, fought to regain lost ground against Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi and TRANSSION, who continued to consolidate their presence in the region by gaining share from the established brands. This dynamic meant that the market in contention was the price segment below US$200, which explains 94% of the increase in the units shipped to the region compared to 2023. Thus, the significant increase in competition in the Latin American smartphone market has been driven by a strong focus on value for money. This restricts manufacturers’ and sales channels’ profitability while also limiting opportunities to generate new revenue streams through the broader adoption of cutting-edge mobile technologies in the market.”

“While competition is expected to drive demand, basing a significant part of the business on low-profit segments is a risky game for vendors,” stated Pérez. “For brands lacking well-balanced portfolios across price segments and ecosystem devices, market stability may be at risk amid unforeseen disruptions like inventory build-up and slowing demand—an increasingly plausible scenario following record-high shipments. Additionally, Canalys’, now part of Omdia, latest forecast estimates a slight decrease of 1% for the Latin American smartphone market in 2025. All of this suggests that the vendors that will succeed in the region this year will not be those that achieve scale in the low-end, but rather those that manage to upgrade a significant part of their sales and brand positioning in higher-value segments.”

Canalys