The runaway success of Apple's newest
iPhone has fuelled a dramatic shift in th
global market: the California tech giant i
now neck-and-neck with South Korea's
Samsung for the title of world's leading
seller of smartphones.
Apple set the standard for modern
smartphones when it released the first
iPhone in 2007, but Samsung has been
the market leader since 2011 with its
series of super-sized smartphones that
run on Google's Android software.
However, Apple made huge gains in the
last quarter, selling 74.5 million iPhone
units - nearly 50 percent more than a
year earlier - after introducing two bigger
models to compete with Samsung's high
end Galaxy S phones.
At the same time, Samsung is facing
fierce competition at the lower-priced en
from Chinese manufacturers Lenovo ,
Huawei and Xiaomi , which are growing
fast in Asia.
Analysts say Apple will likely see a drop-
off in iPhone sales now that it's past the
December holiday shopping season. But
the following estimates from
International Data Corporation (IDC),
released Thursday, show how much the
market has changed.
Samsung held a 20 percent market shar
in Q4 2014, dropping 8.8 percent from
the year-ago quarter, while Apple nipped
at its heels with a 19.8 percent share,
gaining 2.4 percent share from the
previous year.
Lenovo on the other hand had a 6.6
percent market share in Q4 2014,
gaining 1.9 percent from the year-ago
quarter, while Huawei had a 6.2 percent
share, gaining 0.5 percent from Q4 201
Finally, rounding-off the top five, was
Xiaomi, with a 4.4 percent market share
rising 2.2 percent from the year-ago
quarter.
http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/apple-nipping-at-samsungs-heels-in-q4-smartphone-market-share-idc-655641
