Apple's China surge vaults it to global smartphone tie with Samsung
New iPhones help Apple almost double its mainland China market share to 17 per cent
Apple has captured the top spot in the mainland's smartphone market, vaulting it into a tie for global leadership for the first time since 2011 as booming sales of iPhones with larger screens helped it gain ground on Samsung Electronics.
Both companies shipped 74.5 million smartphones globally in the fourth quarter of last year to grab 19.6 per cent of the market each, Strategy Analytics said yesterday.
Lenovo Group was third with a market share of 6.5 per cent after its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Apple's move into larger screens hit Samsung in an area it pioneered as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were popular in markets where consumers want a bigger device to perform the role of a phone and tablet computer.
On the mainland, the world's largest market, Apple surged into first place, overtaking local vendor Xiaomi, which fell three spots to sixth place globally.
"Lenovo-Motorola and Apple have rapidly upped their game in China and worldwide and they are starting to chip away at Xiaomi," Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said. "The golden age of easy growth for Xiaomi is coming to an end."
Global smartphone shipments rose 31 per cent year on year in the fourth quarter of last year to 380.1 million units, with the total for the whole year reaching a record 1.3 billion, Strategy Analytics said.
Apple had not been the biggest vendor globally since the fourth quarter of 2011, it said.
Apple this week posted a 38 per cent surge in fourth-quarter net income, while profit at Samsung slumped 27 per cent.
Samsung, maker of Galaxy devices, saw its global market share plunge 10 percentage points as Lenovo and Huawei Technologies captured more buyers.
Shenzhen-based Huawei was fourth globally during the quarter, followed by LG Electronics and Xiaomi, according to preliminary estimates provided by Strategy Analytics.
Shipments of all mobile phones, including those with limited internet access, rose 7 per cent last year to a record 1.8 billion units.
Samsung shipped 405 million units for a 22.4 per cent share, followed by Microsoft-Nokia with 11 per cent. Apple was third with 10.6 per cent.
On the mainland, the new iPhones helped Apple almost double its smartphone share to 17 per cent, from 9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013, Counterpoint Technology Market Research said yesterday.
That ranked Apple ahead of Xiaomi, which fell to second place with 13 per cent. Lenovo was third with 13 per cent, followed by Huawei, while Samsung fell to fifth with 9 per cent.
"Apple has been successful in diversifying its portfolio with two larger screen options hitting the sweet spots and thus attracting a broader set of consumers," Counterpoint analyst Neil Shah said.
