The inevitable has finally happened. Samsung, after overtaking one time leader Nokia in overall smartphones market share late last year has now overtaken Nokia and become the top mobile phone brand for the 2012. Apart from trouncing Nokia, Samsung now also holds a considerable lead over Apple in the smartphones market.
The data from analytics firm IHS iSuppli adds that Samsung will account for a phenomenal 29 percent of worldwide mobile phone shipments in 2012. This would be up from the 24 percent figure it managed to garner back in 2011. During the same period, Nokia’s share in the worldwide market dropped from 30 percent to 24 percent. In short, within a short span of 12 months, Samsung and Nokia have exchanged positions. The slip from its numero-uno position would also be the first time in 14 long years that Nokia will not lead the mobile phones sales chart.
Samsung though would be a first timer at the top of the mobile phones pie.
As far as the smartphones market is concerned, Samsung virtually smokes any competition out of the window. The company now commands a huge 28 percent market share in this segment. This is up from the figure of 20 percent in 2011. Apple has 10 percent of the smartphones market – up by just one percent from its figures for 2011.
“The competitive reality of the cellphone market in 2012 was ‘live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,'” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst at IHS. “Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cellphone market and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012. Samsung’s successes and Nokia’s struggles in the cellphone market this year were determined entirely by the two companies’ divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector.”
As for other players, one of the biggest losers in Marketshare this year is RIM which in 2011 held 11 percent of the smartphones pie. They have now fallen to just 5 percent. RIM is however expected to announce its new BlackBerry 10 based devices early next year. This could help them stabilize and slow down the fall. Nokia on the other hand is hoping to do well with its Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia handsets
