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Chinese firms lead smartphone growth [Times of Oman](Times of Oman Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Taipei: Huawei Technologies, China's biggest maker of smartphones, almost doubled shipments in the second quarter as demand from emerging markets boosted industry volumes to a record 295 million units. Samsung Electronics retained the top spot globally, while posting lower shipments and shrinking market share, as Apple held second place, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said in a statement on Tuesday. Huawei and Lenovo Group were the only top-five vendors to gain market share, according the statement. Consumers upgrading to smartphones from feature phones are combining with the release of cheaper devices to drive a 23 per cent increase in industry shipments during the quarter. Chinese vendors are winning customers with improved quality and better value, according to IDC. "As the death of the feature phone approaches more rapidly than before, it is the Chinese vendors that are ready to usher emerging market consumers into smartphones," IDC said in the statement. "We have more than a dozen vendors that are capable of landing in the top five next quarter. A handful of these companies are currently operating in a single country." Huawei's shipments climbed 95 per cent from a year earlier to 20.3 million units, and the company held third place with 6.9 per cent of the global market, IDC said. Lenovo was in fourth place with 5.4 per cent, followed by LG Electronics with 4.9 per cent of shipments. Samsung shipments fell 3.9 per cent to 74.3 million units and its market share dropped 7 percentage points to 25.2 per cent. While Apple's shipments rose 12.4 per cent, its share of the market fell to 11.9 per cent from 13 per cent, IDC said. Companies outside the top five include Coolpad Group, HTC, Motorola Mobility, Microsoft's Nokia and Xiaomi, IDC said in a separate e-mail without providing the rank or shipment details for those vendors. (c) 2014 Muscat Press and Publishing House SAOC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |