The sales numbers for the major smartphone manufacturers through the first quarter of this year have been revealed, and actually they throw up little in the way of surprise. Of course, through the fourth quarter of 2014, Apple topped the market with an unprecedented period, beating Samsung in the process. However, the Korean company has now wrestled back number one spot in the market through Q1 of this year, while Chinese companies continued to make their presence felt.
Samsung shifted 82.8 million units through the first three months of the year to hold 24.3% of the market, making the company the clear front runner. While Apple has slipped back to second place with 17.9% of the market, it was still a stellar period for Cupertino as it moved 61.6 million iPhones. In a way, Samsung and Apple will record these results quarter after quarter, with Samsung unlikely to sell much less any period, and similar for Apple.
Indeed, Apple's position in second place is pretty safe at the moment as third placed Lenovo is some way off with 5.5% of the market or 18.7 million units sold. The Chinese company bought Motorola last year and said that the result of the buyout was the creation of the worlds third largest smartphone brand... true words it seems.
In fourth place is Huawei and then LG in fifth, the South Korean company beating out Xiaomi. Although with 15 million units and 4.4% of the market it is impressive how well Xiaomi is doing considering its sells devices in China and India, without migrating to the U.S. or Europe.
ZTE rounds out the top 7, but the real news here is probably the fact that both Sony and Microsoft have slipped out of the top 10. Microsoft's recent output as all been budget specific and it really is looking like the company is suffering from not having a true flagship handsets. Redmond is of course looking to Windows 10 later this year to bump its sales, and of course Microsoft is in this for a long fight.
The same may not be said of Sony though, the Japanese giant now holds less than 2% of the market and has been unclear in its strategy this year. With rumour abound that the company will sell its Xperia smartphone division, a slip in the market like this will only add fuel to the reports.
By News by Luke Jones / Mobile Phone News
