Entry-tier Leader
Samsung Electronics conceded the position of number one in sales to Lenovo of China in the world’s entry tier smartphone market for the first time.
Strategy Analytics (SA), the U.S. market research company, announced on September 11 that Lenovo beat Samsung Electronics in the entry-tier market in terms of smartphone sales by price segment for the second quarter.
Samsung Electronics has always been the number one in all price ranges, but Lenovo beat Samsung during the second quarter. SA did not disclose the actual sales of Samsung Electronics in this sector though.
The budget phone market has relatively low impacts to profits, but is very important in terms of brand awareness, considering that smartphone market rank is based on sales volume. Losing the entry-tier market might lead to difficulties in maintaining the status in the global smartphone market.
Especially, as the smartphone market becomes saturated, the center of the market is moving from the high end to the low end. This means that the entry-tier market is becoming even more important.
According to the market research in China recently done by Canalys, Lenovo chased Samsung Electronics by 0.2 percentage points only. Lenovo was also ranked fourth in the global smartphone market with a market share of 5.4 percent.
SA explained that the smartphone sales of Lenovo are largely concentrated in the Chinese market. Other than the Chinese market, Lenovo is still remaining as a small smartphone manufacturer.