Motorola becomes a top-three smartphone OEM in the US market for the first time in 2021

The United States' smartphone landscape tends to be unique in that only a couple of brands remain promiinent in terms of sales and market share. They include Apple, Samsung and LG - or would, were the latter active as a mobile device OEM anymore.

Now that US smartphone sales data for the whole of 2021 is in, it is clear Motorola has moved the fastest to grasp the opportunity of LG's departure from the market. According to Counterpoint Research, the 2 firms experienced a death-cross of sorts around February, leaving Motorola to attain 10% of total sell-through by the end of the year.

The Lenovo-owned brand has often been a leading seller of dumbphones in the country; now, it has risen to be #3 in terms of smart device sales as well. It is also now #2 in terms of these devices sold for US$400 or less in the country, increasing its overall sales by 131% year-on-year.

It will be interesting, then, to see how it does in 2022: perhaps it will even bring its under-display camera version of the Edge Plus flagship over to celebrate its achievements.