Samsung accounts for a third of smartphones sold in 2013 as shipments hit 980m worldwide
Global smartphone shipments reached 980 million last year, according to Juniper Research. The figure represents a 39 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth for the market, with sales during Q4 exceeding 280 million.
Korean manufacturer Samsung continued to dominate despite a drop in its fourth-quarterly sales to 81m units. Samsung accounted for the sale of 300 million smartphones in 2013, over 30 per cent of sales globally. The performance amounts to a 40 per cent y-o-y growth for the company.
Both Apple and LG broke their quarterly sales record over Q4 last year, with Apple shipping 51 million iPhones, representing a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth of 51 per cent, and LG sales exceeding 13 million for the first time, an increase of over 50 per cent compared to Q4 2012.
LG said that while its q-o-q profit improved due to a rise in G2 and Nexus 5 sales over Q4, its y-o-y performance declined as a result of marketing expenses and intensified price competition.
Nokia saw a drop in sales over Q4 with its flagship Lumia range hitting 8.2 million shipments compared to 8.8 million in Q3 of 2013. However, overall sales of the Lumia reached 30 million last year, compared to 13 million in 2012.
Challenger brands Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE have all seen a y-o-y improvement of their market share, with Juniper estimating that their collective shipments reached 40 million in Q4.