There’s a country where Pixels are doing well: they’re growing 527% and battling Samsung for market share

What Google Pixel This is one of the best phones on the market and there is nothing new about it. Over the years, smartphones developed in Mountain View have stood out in several areas, such as cameras, design, overall performance, increasing integration with artificial intelligence, and of course, the purest Android experience possible. And all this in exchange for very competitive prices compared to other flagships in the sector. However, their limited international availability This is a point of criticism towards Google and its strategy regarding these devices.

Despite the latter, there is a market in which mobile phones have managed to excel, to the point of taking market share away from Samsung. We are talking about Japanwhere in 2023 alone Google Pixel experienced the growth was 527%. This allowed Californians to take third place in the overall table of manufacturers, but second among those who deal exclusively with smartphones, behind only Apple. Real madness.

What’s most interesting, though, is that Google has had huge success with the Pixel in Japan in a year when the mobile market in that country has shrunk. Phone shipments in Japan as a whole fell 11.6% year-on-year in fiscal 2023, according to a recent report from IDC. Focusing only on Android models, the drop was 16.3%.

In an unfavorable context, Google and Pixel have managed to dramatically increase their market share in Japan over the past year. And I repeat the data so that it does not remain in the air: it grew by 527%. Here, they went from having market share from 1.5% in 2022 to 10.7% in 2023.

In 2023 alone, Google Pixels in Japan grew by 527%

The IDC report does not indicate which Google Pixel models contributed to this impressive growth in the Japanese market. In any case, one of the graphs shows that the peak demand for these phones was recorded in the second quarter of 2023. Considering that the US company’s latest models – the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro – were only unveiled in October, it’s logical to assume that most of the expansion happened to its predecessors the Pixel 7, 7 Pro and 7a.

The explosion in popularity of Google Pixel in Japan in 2023 cannot be explained only by the merits of the devices. Another factor that could influence the huge jump in its market share could be Alliance Mountain View and NTT Docomo, the country’s main mobile operator. Added to this was the announcement of Kyocera’s exit from the consumer segment. As well as the purchase of Lenovo FCNT, the firm behind local brands such as Raku-Raku and Arrows.

Google is stealing the market from Samsung, while Apple remains out of reach

Be that as it may, Google Pixel scored a very important victory in such an always tempting market as the Japanese one: defeat Samsung. The South Korean corporation’s mobile phone sales fell 39% year on year. Thus, Galaxy’s market share has grown from 9.1% in 2022 to just 6.3% in 2023.

Another important point to consider is that despite the rise in popularity of the Pixel, Apple is still not available in Japan. Although its shipments in the country fell 6.1% year-on-year, the iPhone remained the most popular smartphone with a 51.9% market share.

The IDC report also shows that there is a difference between the iPhone and the Google Pixel. spicy with the second market share highest in the Japanese market. The Japanese company received a 10.9% stake, although it is worth clarifying that it is not exclusively engaged in the production of smartphones. It also occupies an important position in the segment of cheaper and less technologically advanced phones aimed at older people.