Faltering Samsung smartphone sales see it overtaken by Apple
Samsung’s smartphone sales have been overtaken by arch rivals Apple for the first time in four years as the South Korean giant finds itself under increasing pressure at the premium end of the industry.
Latest figures indicate that combined sales of Galaxy branded smartphones slumped to between 72.2m and 75.1m (down from 86m in the fourth quarter of 2013) – almost certainly below that of the record 74.5m iPhones shipped by Apple over the latest quarter.
Samsung has also been feeling the heat from emerging Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, who have been undercutting it with low cost hardware in China. This has served to power a 27 per cent fall in quarterly net profit to £3.2bn and the first decline in annual net profit for three years.
Analysts are now waiting for Samsung’s next move to revitalise growth following the failure of its S5 device to make waves, heaping pressure on the firm to make a splash with its S6 device when it launches in March.
Apple and Samsung each account for around a fifth of the global smartphone market.