Smartphones aren't the scrappy new product category they once were. That slab you carry with you everywhere in your pocket doesn't feel like a futuristic gadget anymore — it feels like an appliance. As consumers have settled into ecosystems and brand loyalty, we've seen the smartphone competition shrink. While regions like China and India are rife with new brands, North America and, to a lesser extent, Europe, are down to just a handful of companies — and it doesn't seem like anything's likely to improve.

This week marked the one-year anniversary of LG pulling out of the mobile market. While the company's flagships had failed to sell in any meaningful numbers for years — shout-out to all the LG Velvet owners, of course — its lower-end phones were still a solid success, leaving something of a hole in the North American market. Without any future K-series phones lining the walls of your local carrier, someone had to take that space.

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That's where Motorola comes in. While the company has made a (less-than-glorious) return to flagship phones this year, it's still primarily selling G-series devices well under the $500 mark. Without LG, Motorola was able to take over much of that budget market space, gaining a boost to third place in the US nearly a year to the day after LG quietly disappeared. Looking at the best budget phones — which research firm Counterpoint counts as below $400 — it's even better for the company, grabbing second place in that category.

Looking at sales share in the US, Motorola's shift into third place happened in April 2021, the same month the company closed down its mobile division. While Moto hasn't exactly skyrocketed in the year since — it's still hanging out around 10 percent — LG has dropped to nothing, as those last handsets gathering dust on the Best Buy shelves finally disappeared.

Okay, but what about the high-end? LG wasn't a major player to begin with, but its absence can still be felt when comparing current flagships like the Galaxy S22 and the Google Pixel 6. Where's the LG V80 or G12 to put up a fight against the monotony of smartphone trends? Talk to any old-school Galaxy Note fan, and they'll tell you how much they miss headphone jacks and expandable storage — two things LG offered right up until the end. There was also that sense of playfulness. Samsung's lineup of foldables might be unique, but they have nothing on the LG Wing, or the rollable smartphone that never saw the light of day.

Source: LG

LG missing from the market is another sign that phone choices are slowly dwindling, especially in the US. A look at global smartphone sales makes it obvious. Apple and Samsung currently lead the pack, with Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo rounding out the top five. While Oppo's numbers include OnePlus, Xiaomi and Vivo have no US-based sales channels. Everyone else — including Motorola — finds themselves in the "others" category.

Competition looks much grimmer if you focus on "premium" smartphones, which Counterpoint defines as any device above $400. Unsurprisingly, Apple dominates in this field, though the extent may surprise even die-hard tech fans. The latest numbers show the iPhone's global sales share in this category at a whopping 60 percent in 2021, up 5 percent from the year before. Samsung remains in second place, but with only a 13 percent hold on this space — down 4 percent from 2020. While Oppo did manage to grow its numbers — from 2 to 4 percent — none of these companies can keep up with Apple's sales numbers. That should concern any Android user who wants the mobile space to remain competitive.

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Obviously, the fact that Apple's entire smartphone lineup is priced above $400 plays a role in this. But without the LGs and HTCs of the world — and with Xiaomi and Huawei held outside of the North American market — there just isn't much space for disruptors. The current output from OnePlus is a disaster, as it pivots to focus primarily on emerging markets like China and India, at the expense of its North American and European fans. Upstarts like Nothing and OSOM could make enthusiasts happy, but they're unlikely to convince anyone standing in a Verizon store to switch from Samsung or Apple.

This problem isn't new; we've been discussing it on Android Police for over four years now. But with the gap growing between Apple, Samsung, and the rest of the industry — especially in the premium space, which captures the majority of our attention — it's looking worse than ever. This problem didn't start with LG leaving one year ago; it's only demonstrated the problems we're dealing with at a greater level than ever before. With competition all but gone, don't be surprised if new features start to stagnate, prices continue to rise, and, in general, phones continue their march into "appliance" territory.

LG's last round of smartphones weren't great, and from a business perspective, pulling out of the market altogether was the right move. But when it comes to inventiveness, risk, and a sense of throwing everything at the wall just to see what sticks, the industry is worse off than it's ever been.