Samsung is the industry leader in smartphones and mobile phones in general. It’s market leadership position is in no threat whatsoever in a very long time. What’s happening is that it’s declining. And among the 5 global smartphone leaders, Samsung is the only one that experienced negative growth year on year. This is happening due to Chinese players gaining serious ground in local market China where mid range and entry level smartphones are concerned.
This is where the numbers get churned out and the Chinese vendors like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei are making serious inroads in the local market. This is hurting Samsung in the end since the contribution of large markets like China and India is quite huge to the global numbers. Some of these players barely make 5% of their total smartphones sales outside China, like Lenovo which is currently fourth in global smartphone marketshare.
Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2014Q2 Preliminary Results (Units in Millions)
|
Vendor
|
2Q14 Shipment Volume
|
2Q14 Market Share
|
2Q13 Shipment Volume
|
2Q13 Market Share
|
2Q14/2Q13 Growth
|
|
1. Samsung
|
74.3
|
25.2%
|
77.3
|
32.3%
|
-3.9%
|
|
2. Apple
|
35.1
|
11.9%
|
31.2
|
13.0%
|
12.4%
|
|
3. Huawei
|
20.3
|
6.9%
|
10.4
|
4.3%
|
95.1%
|
|
4. Lenovo
|
15.8
|
5.4%
|
11.4
|
4.7%
|
38.7%
|
|
5. LG
|
14.5
|
4.9%
|
12.1
|
5.0%
|
19.8%
|
|
Others
|
135.3
|
45.8%
|
97.5
|
40.6%
|
38.7%
|
|
Total
|
295.3
|
100%
|
240.0
|
100%
|
23.1%
|
The death of feature phones is arriving fast, and the playground now is entry level and mid-range smartphones where the Chinese players have hit with dirt cheap smartphones which also do have great features. This is of course Samsung’s worry. Apple is at a low as usual this time of year when there is much expectations of the next iPhone, but the company managed to sell better than they did last year same quarter. Among the top 5 only Samsung dropped with Huawei gaining the most, doubling shipments year on year and reporting quite good numbers from their side.
