Earlier this week, analyst firm TrendForce estimated that smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2013 were up 6.6% year-over-year. Today another analyst firm has chimed in with similar numbers and a stark look at how Samsung is beginning to dominate the market.
IDC’s numbers show that 432.1 million total mobile phones were shipped during the second quarter of 2013, a 6% increase over the 407.7 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2012. Much of the markets growth was shown to come from smaller manufacturers, who are making inroads into emerging smartphone markets such as China, India, and Brazil.
“The smartphone market is still a rising tide that’s lifting many ships,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst at IDC. “Though Samsung and Apple are the dominant players, the market is as fragmented as ever. There is ample opportunity for smartphone vendors with differentiated offerings.”
Samsung, which released its new flagship Android smartphone the Galaxy S4 this quarter, now accounts for over 26%of the total mobile phone market and over 30% of the smartphone market. The Korean manufacturer shipped 72.4 million smartphone units during the quarter, a 43.9% increase over the second quarter of 2012.
Apple, which had no new product launches during the past quarter, saw only a 20% increase in its shipments over the second quarter of 2012. The company’s share of the smartphone market dropped to 13.1% from 16.6% one year ago.
LG was one of the big winners during the past quarter, shipping 11.3 million smartphones – a 108% increase from the 5.8 million it shipped during the second quarter 2012.
Chinese manufacturers Lenovo and ZTE also saw huge shipment increases and market share gains. Lenovo in particular shipped 11.3 million smartphone units, a 130% increase from the second quarter of 2012.
“Market opportunities exist at all levels, including the high end,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC. “While Samsung and Apple accounted for significant share of the overall market, they were not the only vendors active in the high end of the market, and recent device introductions and upcoming launches signal more vendors targeting this space. Comparisons will certainly be made to the flagship Galaxy and iPhone models, but clearly the competition refuses to be shut out altogether.”