Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. are likely to lose their growth steam in the global smartphone market this year. The sales of Chinese smartphones are expected to exceed the combined sales of Samsung and Apple this year, first in history.
According to market research firm DRAMeXchange on January 17, last year's global smartphone sales totaled 1.293 billion units, up 10.3 percent year on year. By company, Samsung Electronics had the largest share of 24.8 percent, followed by Apple with 17.5 percent, Huawei with 8.4 percent, Xiaomi with 5.6 percent, Lenovo with 5.4 percent, LG with 5.3 percent, TCL with 4.0 percent, Oppo with 3.8 percent, BBK/VIVO with 3.3 percent, and ZTE with 3.1 percent.
Although Samsung and Apple led the list, Chinese companies achieved outstanding growth. Among top-ten smartphone sellers, seven are Chinese firms with their combined share estimated at around 40 percent.
DRAMeXchange predicted that the share of Samsung and Apple will likely to fall to 22.2 percent and 16.8 percent this year, while that of Huawei, Lenovo, and Xiaomi are expected to rise to 9.3 percent, 6.1 percent, and 5.8 percent, respectively.
