Chinese manufacturers are six of top 10
In 2014, smartphone sales totaled some 1.167 billion, an increase of 25.9% from 2013, according to a new report from market research and analysis firm TrendForce.
TrendForce’s Global Smartphone Analyst Avril Wu points out in the report, released Jan. 20, that smartphone sales from Chinese vendors accounted for some 453.4 million units, which amounts to a nearly 40% market share.
“2014 was definitely an impressive year for Chinese brands as they gained more share of the global market,” Wu said in a statement.
In fact, the report authors note that Chinese companies comprise six of the top 10 smartphone brands by sales.
Those brands, in descending order of 2014 market share, are: Samsung, 28%; Apple, 16.4%; Lenovo/Motorola, 7.9%; LG, 6%; Huawei, 5.9%; Xiamoi, 5.2%; Coolpad, 4.2%; Sony, 3.9%; ZTE, 3.1%; and TCL, 2.7%. Other manufacturers captured 16.7% of the smartphone market.
Wu points out that the collective Chinese vendor sales were outshined by the two industry heavyweights, Samsung and Apple.
“This shows that fierce competition among the brands relatively and severely narrowed their profit margins.”
In 2013, Samsung and Apple, in that order, were the top two smartphone sellers worldwide; but from 2013 to 2014, both companies lost market share, according to the TrendForce analysis.
The report authors single out Lenovo as experiencing more than 100% annual growth, driven by a merger with Motorola in late 2014.
Huawei also made big moves the past year, trading its Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets out for those produced by its own subsidiary, HiSilicon.
TrendForce Chinese analyst Alan Chen said: “HiSilicon’s product roadmap shows that in the future it will pursue R&D in midlevel and lower-end products and Huawei [is also determined] to eventually become self-reliant in chipset supply.”
