As follows from the official press release Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments in 2014 increased by 31% compared with the previous and achieved impressive 1.3 billion units. Only in the fourth quarter of last year, manufacturers have put 380.1 million smartphones against 290.2 million for the same period last year. Strong growth in the supply of smartphones in the past year was recorded in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa.
20% of the market in the fourth quarter 2014 took Apple company , which put in the reporting period 74.5 million iPhone. A similar number of smartphones at the end of last quarter sold and the South Korean company Samsung, however, its share decreased from 30% in 2013 to 20%. Analysts believe that Samsung now faces serious competition not only from Apple, but also from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi, which are mainly aimed at secondary and primary price segments. Nevertheless, at the end of 2014 Samsung remains the largest producer of smartphones in the world.
Association with the Motorola helped Chinese companies Lenovo capture in the last quarter 6.5% of the global smartphone market and take third place, ahead of Huawei with 6.3% market share.