Due to Expansion of Product Lineups
Samsung Electronics is expected to maintain its top place in the smartphone market in the first quarter of this year, widening the gap with Apple Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. further. As Apple and Huawei are faltering from a controversy over high prices and a trade dispute between the United States and China, respectively, Samsung Electronics are forecast to get ahead by expanding both high-end phone and low-end phone lineups according to market experts.
Market research firm TrendForce said on Jan. 30 that Samsung Electronics’ share in the global smartphone market will increase from 18.6 percent at the fourth quarter of last year to 22.8 percent at the first quarter of this year. The company’s estimated shipments in the first quarter reach 70 million units.
Huawei, which ranked second in terms of global market share after beating Apple last year, seems to maintain the second place with 15 percent in the first quarter this year. Its estimated productions in the first quarter has also grown by 10 percent to 46 million units compared to last year. However, the trade war between the United States and China is expected to adversely affect the smartphone business of Huawei.
Apple lowered the goal of production and the price due to the sluggish sales of its new iPhone XS series but it has made little progress in this effort. Accordingly, Apple’s market share is forecast to fall from 18.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year to 13.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. TrendForce said that the productions of the iPhone would stand at 41.50 million units over the same period, down 26 percent from a year earlier.
In addition, Xiaomi Corp. is expected to come in at fourth place with 8.5 percent, followed by Oppo Electronics Corp. with 7.4 percent and Vivo Communication Technology Co. with 6.4 percent.