Korean technology giant Samsung has been knocked off top spot by native handset makers in the world’s two biggest smartphone markets. For the second quarter of the year, in both China and India, Samsung has been replaced as the market share leader by companies from within the market country.
In China, the world’s biggest smartphone market (nearly 700 million registered users), Xiaomi now attracts 14% of the market share compared to Samsung’s 12%. While in India, the second largest market, native company Micromax is now the market share leader by around 3%, accounting for nearly 17% of Indian smartphone sales.
Offering cheaper alternatives and handsets better customised to in-country needs, these companies have been able to oust established international smartphone providers such as Samsung and Apple despite the two controlling 38% of the global smartphone market.
Experts anticipate a response from Samsung in the next quarter when millions of users are expected to upgrade to 4G technology and it remains to be seen whether this current challenge can be sustained as these, and more, Chinese and Indian companies attempt to break into the global market in the upcoming months.