Samsung SDI topped small-size lithium ion battery market last year

Samsung SDI last year was the world`s top maker of small-size lithium ion batteries, beating out Panasonic of Japan, the Japanese daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Thursday.

This was the first time for Samsung to lead the global market. According to Tech System Research, a market survey company in Japan, Samsung saw its share of the market rise to 25.1 percent last year, up 1.9 percentage points in 2011. Panasonic, which had ranked first in 2011 with 23.5 percent, saw its global share fall to 20.7 percent last year. Small-size lithium ion batteries are used in smartphones and motor-driven electric tools.

The newspaper also said Samsung significantly boosted its global sales of the batteries last year due to higher cost competitiveness from the depreciation of the Korean won.

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