Losing Power
New data has been released that shows that products of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are struggling in the domestic smartphone market. SK Telecom has recently posted the smartphone sales data on its online shopping mall “T-world Direct” on Dec. 27.
SK Telecom divided the smartphone market into three sectors – premium smartphones with best specifications, mid-range smartphones with cost effectiveness, and affordable low-end smartphones.
In the premium smartphone market, the 64 GB version of the Apple iPhone 6S ranked top with a 28.2 percent market share in the same level market, followed by the 16 GB version of the iPhone 6S with 13.8 percent. Also, the 64 GB version of the iPhone 6S Plus came in fourth with 8.1 percent. The combined market shares of the iPhone 6S series reached more than 50 percent.
The 64 GB version of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 5 ranked third with a 13.8 percent market share, while the 32 GB version of the Note 5 took fifth place with 7.1 percent, saving the company’s face.
In mid-range smartphone sales, the 32 GB version of Google’s Nexus 6P dominated the market with a 34.6 percent share. The 32 GB version of the Nexus 5X ranked third with 20 percent, while its 16 GB version came in fifth with 5.8 percent, proving the popularity of Google phones. SK Telecom’s Luna took second place with 28.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy A5 ranked fourth with 9.7 percent, seeing a relatively good result.
In the meantime, the top-selling phones in the low-end category were crowded with Samsung and LG phones. The Galaxy Folder 3G was the top player with 24.8 percent market share, followed by the Galaxy J5 with 18.5 percent, the Galaxy Grand Max with 15.8 percent, the LG Class with 12.3 percent, and the LG Band Play with 8.9 percent.
An industry source said, “The premium and mid-price markets are dominated by iPhone and Google phones, respectively. If Samsung and LG stick to cheaper phones to defend market share, they will see further declines in profitability.”