Samsung
became the world’s top handset maker by units, ousting Nokia, which had
held that title for the past 14 years, according to a researcher.
Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, besting Nokia’s 82.7 million. Samsung’s market share is now 25% vs. Nokia’s 23%. Nokia had been the world’s top producer of handsets by units since 1998, when it overtook Motorola. Most troubling number for Nokia perhaps: Sales in China fell 62%.
The changing of the guard came as Nokia is in the process of switching over its smartphones to the Windows Phone OS. Nokia told analysts this month that it sold more than 2 million Windows Phone-based units in the first quarter. Windows Phone is still a distant competitor to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms, which controlled 23.8% and 50.9% of the global smartphone market, by units, in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. (Gartner hasn’t released its estimates for Q1 global sales. In 4Q, it pegged Nokia’s global market share at 23.4% compared to Samsung’s 19.4%.)
Samsung didn’t forsake profits for the sake of market share. The company posted a $4.5 billion profit in its most-recent quarter, nearly doubling last year’s figure and beating analysts’ estimates.
Though Samsung had a comfortable lead in Q1, it’s unclear whether the Korean electronics giant will be able to keep its dominance. Tom Kang, a Seoul-based research analyst at Strategy Analytics, told Bloomberg that “Samsung will probably still be number one in the second quarter, but the full year will be a close call because the third and fourth quarters are traditionally Nokia’s best.”
http://mashable.com/
Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter, besting Nokia’s 82.7 million. Samsung’s market share is now 25% vs. Nokia’s 23%. Nokia had been the world’s top producer of handsets by units since 1998, when it overtook Motorola. Most troubling number for Nokia perhaps: Sales in China fell 62%.
The changing of the guard came as Nokia is in the process of switching over its smartphones to the Windows Phone OS. Nokia told analysts this month that it sold more than 2 million Windows Phone-based units in the first quarter. Windows Phone is still a distant competitor to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms, which controlled 23.8% and 50.9% of the global smartphone market, by units, in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. (Gartner hasn’t released its estimates for Q1 global sales. In 4Q, it pegged Nokia’s global market share at 23.4% compared to Samsung’s 19.4%.)
Samsung didn’t forsake profits for the sake of market share. The company posted a $4.5 billion profit in its most-recent quarter, nearly doubling last year’s figure and beating analysts’ estimates.
Though Samsung had a comfortable lead in Q1, it’s unclear whether the Korean electronics giant will be able to keep its dominance. Tom Kang, a Seoul-based research analyst at Strategy Analytics, told Bloomberg that “Samsung will probably still be number one in the second quarter, but the full year will be a close call because the third and fourth quarters are traditionally Nokia’s best.”
http://mashable.com/
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