Korean Mobile Handsets Increase Presence in Global Market

Korean-made mobile phones are flying high in the global market. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics ranked the third and the sixth spot respectively in 2Q global mobile handset sales grabbing 9.8% and 3.8% of the market, said market research firm Strategy Analytics on August 20.

SEC outperformed such big names as Siemens (8.5%, 4th) and Sony Ericsson (5.2%, 5th), while LGE went ahead of Alcatel (3.1%) and Kyosera (2.7%).

Nokia and Motorola topped the ranking, taking 37.2% and 17.3% of the global pie amid fierce competition among handset majors.

“We closed the gap with the No. 5 Sony Ericsson significantly,” said LGE, “as we fared well in the GSM handset market which accounts for 75% of the entire global pie.”

Meanwhile, SEC has recently formed a strategic partnership with Garman mobile heavyweight T-Mobile, and now expects its mobile phone exports to rise sharply.

Im-Sook Ha artemes@donga.com