Smartphone Market Grew by 45% – Samsung still dominates.

Global smartphone shipments grew 45 percent annually to reach a record 251 million units in the third quarter of 2013, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung took a record 35 percent share of the market, and Huawei moved up to third place. Smartphones accounted for 6 in 10 of all mobile phones shipped worldwide, driven by strong demand for LTE models in developed regions like the US and 3G devices in emerging markets such as China.

Samsung’s share was up 2.3 percent points from a year earlier as it grew shipments an estimated 55 percent to 88.4 million units. Apple’s growth was slower, and its market share fell to 13.4 percent from 15.6 a year ago. Huawei took a 5.1 percent share, as it grew shipments 67 percent annually to 12.7 million units in Q3.

LG was in fourth place, with 12.0 million smartphones good for a 4.8 percent market share. LG was also the fastest-growing vendor among the top five brands, with shipments up 71 percent year-on-year. Lenovo came fifth, with 10.8 million smartphones shipped and a 4.3 percent share of the global market.

Our take: Samsung will continue to dominate the market as expected, while Apple recedes to its usual tribal fanbase. Chinese makers like Huawei will gain more credibility in western markets, which will fuel further growth — with increased spending in marketing and product placement, they will curve out a niche in cheaper but high performance models. LG is yet to make a comeback to the likes of Nokia,i n terms of a device with massive appeal, and may slip even further as their product mix vis-a-vis smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, smart home theatres, etc will continue to falter at creating an eco-system to the likes of Apple or Samsung based purely on reduced brand appeal.

Let us know you prediction on local market shares for the various smartphone brands in the comments.

Source: telecompaper Image credit: mobilephones.pk