Samsung dominated global smartphone market except N. America

Samsung Electronics killed “two birds,” both advanced and emerging markets, in its smartphone sales last year. According to the report “2013 Global Smartphone Market Share” published Tuesday by the Strategy Analytics, a U.S.-based market survey company, the Korean electronics company topped the list of smartphone market share in all regions in the world except for North America, distancing itself from Apple, the runner-up.

Samsung’s dominance was the most vibrant in Africa and the Middle East. Its market share in these regions increased 20 percentage points from 43.0 percent in 2012 to 62.6 percent in 2013 while that of Apple stood merely at 9.2 percent. Supplied quantities also doubled from 2012. According to a survey, three out of five smartphones sold in the regions last year were made by Samsung.

One of the reasons for such a success is Samsung’s swift response to changing demands in the local smartphone markets. It is definitely a mistake to assume that consumers in emerging markets will buy only low-priced smartphones. An official from the company said, “Premium phones such as Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 led the expansion of the (smartphone) market in the Middle East and Africa.”

According to Strategy Analytics, shipments of smartphone to the Middle East and Africa increased to 53.2 million units last year from 11.7 million units in 2009. In the meantime, the number of mobile service subscribers in Africa increased from 76 million to 654 million, almost 10 times, between 2004 and 2013.

Samsung Electronics marked 45.2 percent and 37.9 percent in market share in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, respectively, beating its rival Apple whose market share standing at 12.8 percent and 9.5 percent.

Although Samsung marked only a minor increase or standstill in Asia Pacific and Western Europe, Apple’s market share in those markets even decreased. In North America, Samsung’s share increased to 31.6 percent from 26.6 percent while Apple’s share decreased to 36.3 percent from 37.6 percent. Though there was no change in their rankings, the market share difference between the two companies has narrowed down to a single digit.

In terms of global market share in 2013, Samsung Electronics maintained the top spot by increasing its market share from 30.4 percent to 32.3 percent year-on-year, while Apple’s market share decreased a bit from 19.4 percent to 15.5 percent.