14 DAY TRIAL // South Korean handset vendor Samsung has managed to secure the top position on the mobile phone market this quarter, the latest reports on the matter suggest.
For the first time in 14 years, Finnish company Nokia is not listed as the top mobile phone vendor in the world, as its market share dropped significantly when compared to last year.
Samsung is said to complete the current year with a market share of 29 percent, up from 24 percent last year, while Nokia is expected to account only for 24 percent of all mobile phones sold around the world, down from 30 percent last year.
Samsung has seen an impressive growth in sales of smartphones, which helped it overtake Nokia on the global phone market, a recent report from IHS states.
The global shipments of such devices are expected to grow to 35.5 percent this year, while the overall phone market should go up by 1 percent when compared to the last year.
The impressive growth in sales of smartphones will translate in an increase in adoption of 47 percent when compared to 35 percent registered last year.
“The competitive reality of the cellphone market in 2012 was ‘live by the smartphone, die by the smartphone,’” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS.
“Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cellphone market and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012.”
“Samsung’s successes and Nokia’s struggles in the cellphone market this year were determined entirely by the two companies’ divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector,” Lam continued.
While Samsung is offering smartphones that address all types of consumer needs, Nokia is still bleeding badly in this area due to slow sales, as it is still transitioning to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.
Samsung also managed to secure the top position on the smartphone market, where Apple is placed second. Together, the two companies accounted for around half of worldwide smartphone shipments this year.