SEOUL: Samsung Electronics is still the king of the global smartphone market, according to new research. Counterpoint found that 21 per cent of the entire smartphone shipment during the Q2 of 2015 came from South Korea.
The Counterpoint report tracked shipments from 75 device manufacturers including Apple, Asus, Huawei, and Xiaomi across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa to crack the numbers.
Apple Inc. is still a tough competitor at the second spot with 14 per cent of the total shipments. The Huawei userbase has grown considerably over the past few months, catapulting the Chinese electronics manufacturer to the third spot with 9 per cent of the market. China’s Xiaomi and ZTE both accounted for 5 per cent of the shipments each while LG had 4 per cent.
The market research comes after the rumours that the company will be laying off thousand of employees from its South Korea headquarters and China operations due to the continually sliding revenue. Samsung denied the reports.
Asus was a surprise competitor during the Q2. Counterpoint noted that shipments of Asus handsets grew 5 times larger than its records from the exact same period last year. The Taiwanese brand surpassed Vivo as the fastest growing brand.
Asus’ rapid rise to greatness is due to the massive demand for the Zenfone 2 and all of its numerous variants in India, the Philippines, China, and the rest of the world. Zenfone 2 offered premium specifications but without the price tag of a Samsung Galaxy or an Apple iPhone attached.
In the US, Apple is the reigning OEM with 34 per cent of North America’s shipment. Samsung falls at the second spot with only 26 per cent of the market, while LG holds 14 per cent.
Meanwhile, amidst the slowing smartphone demand in China and across the globe, Counterpoint found that 3 out of 4 handsets shipped during Q2 were smartphone units. LTE smartphone shipment is largest in China (4x higher than last year’s volume) and India (12x).
