Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recorded its second lowest year-over-year iPhone growth rate in the last four years, says the latest quarterly report on mobile phones from International Data Corporation (IDC). The report, released last week, reveals that a total of 432.1 million mobile phones were shipped in the second quarter, which exceeds the shipment in the last quarter and prior year quarter. Smartphones experienced the maximum growth of 52.3 percent year-over-year, highest in last five years.
‘Other players’ performing well
Unlike Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), rival Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) experienced great sales volumes. Other players in the segment: LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR)(NYSE:LPL), Lenovo Group Limited (ADR)(OTCMKTS:LNVGY), ZTE, HTC Corp (TPE:2498), BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), and Huawei also registered a rise in shipments and market share. According to the report, LG was able to post a profit from its Android Smartphone’s offering and is planning to roll-out more devices. Lenovo, after a gap of six month, was back in the top five with 130.6 percent year-on-year shipment growth, the highest by any top-5 vendor. According to IDC, LG, Lenovo and others are performing well, in both high end and lower segment, but how they will perform after the launch of new iPhone from Apple, will be interesting to watch.
As per the IDC data, Android, as expected, dominated the market with Samsung, LG, Lenovo, and ZTE being the top four vendors for the platform. Again, as expected, Nokia rules the Windows platform; however, its flagship Lumia devices are still not popular enough to make it to the top five.
Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC, said that opportunities were present in all segments including the high end. Apple and Samsung hold a major share of the market, but other players also performed decently in the premium segment. The upcoming launches and updates from other players suggest that Apple and Samsung will face more competition in the segment. “Comparisons will certainly be made to the flagship Galaxy and iPhone models, but clearly the competition refuses to be shut out altogether,” he added.
IDC estimates that Samsung shipped 72.4 million smartphones during the quarter, which is a 44 percent increase over the last years estimate. Samsung’s market shares have also narrowed a bit from 32.2 percent last year to 30.4 percent in Q2 2013.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold 31.2 million devices in the quarter, accounting for 13.1 percent of the market share compared to 16.6 percent in the prior year quarter.
According to IDC, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) numbers were boosted by the sales of the discounted iPhone 4 while Samsung got the same support from the Galaxy S3, whose prices were slashed after the launch of the Galaxy S4.
