Share of global handset market rising

Korean handset makers are expected to claim more than 30 percent of the global mobile phone market this year for the first time, powered by robust shipments of smartphones made by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, a report showed yesterday.

The combined market share of the two firms is expected to reach 30.1 percent this year, with top player Samsung and smaller rival LG estimated to claim 26.4 percent and 3.7 percent of the market, respectively, according to the report by Samsung Securities.

By units, Samsung’s annual shipment is estimated at 404 million units, while that of LG is expected to reach 56 million units.

The figures mark an increase from last year, when the two handset makers logged a combined 26.8 percent market share.

They also represent a sharp growth from 10 years ago, when Samsung and LG together held 13.5 percent of the global market. Their market share entered the 20 percent threshold in 2007.

The increasing market share was attributed to the two companies’ continued investment in research and development as well as vertical supply chains.

“Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are among the companies, in addition to Nokia, that have been sustaining their global sales channel and R&D investment since the late ’90s,” said Harrison Jo, an analyst at Samsung Securities.

A vertical supply chain for smartphone parts has also shored up the two companies’ cost competitiveness, Jo added.

Meanwhile, the brokerage firm painted a rosy outlook for the two local handset makers in the next few years.

Samsung and LG are each projected to sell 456 million and 65 million mobile phones next year, which will bring their combined market share to 32.2 percent.

In 2014, the two handset makers are expected to claim 33.3 percent of the 1.7 billion unit global market, according to the report.

Yonhap