Last Year’s Best-Selling Phone in Korea: 'Gal S22 Ultra'

Last year, the best-selling smartphone model in the domestic market was the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Overall sales in the domestic smartphone market fell by 6% compared to the previous year due to inflationary pressures and increased economic uncertainty, which led to sluggish sales of flagship models.

Counterpoint Research revealed this on the 3rd through its smartphone model sales tracker.

Looking at sales by company, Samsung Electronics saw a 2% decrease compared to the same period last year, while Apple experienced a 0.4% decline. Sales of other brands dropped by 71%, reflecting the impact of LG Electronics' withdrawal from the mobile business in April 2021.

Counterpoint Research stated, "Samsung's key second-half model, the Galaxy Z Flip4, failed to show significant differentiation from its predecessor, and demand shrank mainly in the mid-to-low price range, resulting in a 2% decrease in Samsung's 2022 sales compared to the previous year. Despite supply disruptions caused by the lockdown at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory, Apple's sales remained close to last year's level thanks to the new iPhone 14 series."

The total market share of the top 10 smartphone models in the domestic market last year decreased by 7 percentage points from the previous year, recording 46%. Among them, the best-selling smartphone was the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Although the initial popularity of the Galaxy S22 Ultra quickly declined due to the Game Optimizing Service (G.O.S) controversy, it gradually absorbed the existing demand for the Galaxy Note series. Additionally, promotions and price discounts appear to have effectively minimized the decline in sales. Following it, the Galaxy Z Flip4, Galaxy S22, iPhone 13, and Galaxy A53 ranked 2nd to 5th, respectively.

Shin Kyunghwan, a researcher at Counterpoint Research, said, "In the first quarter of 2023, Apple is expected to achieve a higher market share compared to the same period last year, driven by relatively strong demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Meanwhile, Samsung's Galaxy S23 series is showing solid early sales, but mid-to-low-end smartphones still seem to be struggling. Due to ongoing economic uncertainty, especially affecting demand for mid-to-low-end smartphones, the domestic smartphone market is not expected to grow compared to last year through the first half of 2023."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.