According to research firm Strategy Analytics on Feb. 11, Samsung’s share of the worldwide smartphone market was 30.4 percent in 2012, more than a two-fold increase from the previous year. In 2011, the Korean tech giant achieved a double digit market share (19.9 percent) for the first time. Last year, it captured 32.3 percent of the global smartphone market.
Samsung’s good performance can be ascribed to its stellar sales numbers in emerging markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
The tech company accounted for 62.6 percent of the Middle Eastern and African markets in 2013, a 19.6 percent year-on-year gain. Its share in the Eastern European market climbed 4.7 percent year-on-year to reach 45.2 percent last year, while the 2013 figure for Latin America was 37.9 percent, up 2.6 percent from a year ago.
Samsung’s performance in developed markets was also remarkable last year. It posted more than 40 percent market share in Europe (41.2 percent in Western Europe, 45.2 percent in Eastern Europe) for the second straight year, whereas the company made up 31.6 percent of the North American market, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent.
The research firm said, “Samsung is the definite leader of the global smartphone industry as the world’s largest smartphone maker.”
In contrast, Apple’s share of the smartphone market started to fall in 2011, and the US firm represented only 15.5 percent of the total in 2013. It lagged far behind the Korean handset maker in the global market, excluding the North American market (36.3 percent).
In particular, there is a big gap between the two mobile phone manufacturers in emerging markets, which are considered to be future growth markets. Apple recorded 9.2 percent market share in Middle East and Africa, and 9.5 percent market share in Latin America, which is lower than that of LG (14.1 percent).