In the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, Nokia, Tecno Mobile, the maker of Tecno-branded smartphones, and TCL, the company behind the Alcatel OneTouch-branded smartphones and other carrier-branded devices like the Firefox OS-powered Orange Klif joined Samsung and Huawei in completing the top 5 mobile phone vendors list in the region in Q3 2015. This is according to new data released by Counterpoint Research.
Nokia has a long history in emerging markets thanks to the brand’s budget devices. Tecno is a brand that is widely associated with low-cost smartphones in countries like Kenya and Nigeria while TCL’s Alcatel OneTouch smartphones and other carrier-branded devices like the Safaricom Neon in Kenya have made inroads in several markets in Africa and the Middle East. This further underscores the huge impact of budget smartphones in this particular market.
As expected, Samsung, Apple and Huawei, in that order, shipped more smartphones in Q3 2015 than any other device makers in the world.
When it comes to mobile phones in general (smartphones+feature/dumb phones) globally, Samsung still leads with Apple in tow but Nokia comes in third further proving how well-grounded the mobile device division of Nokia that has since become a part of Microsoft was as a brand. Microsoft has maintained the tempo by releasing a couple of feature phones in 2015 like the Nokia 215, Nokia 105 and Nokia 230. Microsoft itself, which has also been shipping a number of budget Windows smartphones in 2015 like the Lumia 540 and Lumia 430, is nowhere to be seen on the list.
Another research firm, IDC, has an even glimmer outlook of Microsoft’s future in the mobile phone market and its Windows platform asserting that “even just-about-giving Windows phones away won’t help.”
Globally, this is how things stood at the end of Q3 2015 as far as mobile handset shipments went:
| Vendor | Market share |
| Samsung | 21% |
| Apple | 10% |
| Nokia | 6% |
| Huawei | 6% |
| TCL (Alcatel) | 4% |
| Xiaomi | 4% |
| LG | 3% |
| ZTE | 3% |
| Oppo | 3% |
| Lenovo | 2% |
| Micromax | 2% |
On the smartphone front, Huawei cemented its hold on the third position by increasing its smartphone shipments to upset compatriot Xiaomi which stagnated at 5%.
| Vendor | Market share |
| Samsung | 23% |
| Apple | 13% |
| Huawei | 8% |
| Xiaomi | 5% |
| LG | 4% |
| ZTE | 4% |
| Oppo | 4% |
Things to note from the data provided by Counterpoint Research:
- One in every 5 mobile phones shipped globally is made by Samsung
- Three of every four mobile phones shipped globally are smartphones
- Two in every 3 smartphones shipped globally are LTE-capable
