Apple edges Samsung

SAN FRANCISCO: There’s a new smartphone king. At least for the moment.

Apple snatched the top sales spot during the fourth quarter, displacing rival Samsung Electronics, which has held the crown since 2011, according to a report from market research firm Gartner.

The news is yet another laurel in the California company’s crown. It recently hit a US$700-billion market cap, coyly brushed off rumours that it was developing a car and, come Monday, is likely to introduce the world to its new watch.

The launch of the ultra-popular iPhone 6 and 6 Plus propelled Apple to the No.1 position for worldwide smartphone sales, commanding a 20.4% share of the market. Samsung finished second on 19.9%, down nearly 10% from a year ago.

For Apple, it was the company’s best quarter ever, selling 74.8 million smartphones worldwide. The shift to larger screens was met by big demand in the US and China.

But Apple isn’t likely to gloat much over the sales data, which reveal that Samsung dominates the global phone market (20% market share to Apple’s 10%) and that while Apple won last quarter’s battle, Samsung won 2014’s war (24% to Apple’s 15% share).

Nevertheless, the South Korean electronics powerhouse has some reason for concern. Its four-year dominance was due largely to its ability to cater to a broad market segment that isn’t shopping for a premium-priced Apple product. But that position increasingly is being squeezed by Chinese vendors offering feature-packed phones at lower prices.

Gartner data show that upstart brands Huawei and Xiaomi have grown from almost non-existent in 2011 to capturing about 5% of the global smartphone market in 2014.

Xiaomi’s new Mi Note looks and feels remarkably like an iPhone 6, which might concern Apple given that Chinese consumers represent a formidable and growing middle-class market.

“Apple’s growth in emerging markets really is limited unless they come downmarket with a new phone, and they haven’t done that with any product to date,” says Tuong Nguyen, smartphone analyst at Gartner.

Samsung’s forte, he says, is “rolling out hard and fast with features that people have shown they want”.