The global smartphone market is growing at a rapid pace. Some of the factors fueling the growth in the smartphone market are technological developments such as professional data management, high-speed internet browsing, and the development of 3G and 4G network technologies.
In the first quarter of 2014, smartphone makers globally shipped 285 million units, an increase of 33% compared to the first quarter in 2013.
In the first quarter of 2014, Samsung maintained its top position in the global smartphone market by shipping 89 million units. However, the company’s share in the global smartphone market declined slightly year-over-year from 32% to 31%. Samsung faces tough competition from Apple Inc, Huawei, Sony and several others in the global market.
Apple shipped 43.7 million iPhones worldwide to acquire 15% of the market share in the first quarter of 2014. However, Apple’s market share declined from 17% in 2013. Apple remains strong in the premium smartphone segment.
According to a survey, the global smartphone market grew by 28.6% from 2013 to 2014. In the fourth quarter of 2013, sales volume of smartphones in China was 86.5 million units.
Samsung, Lenovo, Apple, Coolpad, Huawei, Nokia, ZTE, Sony, Micromax and Karbon are the some of the top companies in the global smartphone market.
In China, local manufacturers like Huawei, Lenovo and OPPO all increased their market share of China’s smartphone installed base over the course of 2013. In China, Samsung with 18% is currently placed at the top position in terms of sales in the first quarter of 2014. Lenovo with 12% was placed second, followed by Xiaomi (11%), Coolpad (10%), Apple (10%), Huawei (8%), ZTE (6%), OPPO (3%), and others (21%).
In China, by the end of 2013, the number of active smartphones was more than 700 million. Out of all the devices sold in the fourth quarter of 2013, 41% were people purchasing their first smartphone. The rest of the smartphones were bought by people upgrading their phones.
In November 2011, China became the largest smartphone market in the world. However, sales have gradually declined as mobile penetration rates increased.
The global smartphones market was one of the very few markets that did not get affected by the global meltdown. More first-time users are purchasing their first device as the price of smartphones is dropping dramatically. Hence, the global smartphones market is expected to grow rapidly in the near future.
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