So You Think You Know Smartphones?

So You Think You Know Smartphones? Image

Take a minute to guess the top five smartphone vendors in the world for Q4 2012.

You probably guessed Samsung and Apple, and then maybe HTC, LG, Sony, RIM, Microsoft, or Nokia. You are partially right.

International market research company IDC reported last Thursday that the top five smartphone vendors, and their respective market share, in Q4 2012 were:

* Samsung, 29.0 percent

* Apple, 21.8 percent

* Huawei, 4.9 percent

* Sony, 4.5 percent

* ZTE, 4.3 percent

Below is a comparison of Q4 2011 and Q4 2012 global smartphone shipments:

Top Five Smartphone Vendors

Obviously, Samsung and Apple continue to dominate the smartphone market with a combined market share of 50.8 percent. The two vendors I was interested in, however, were Huawei and ZTE. For those who don’t know, Huawei and ZTE are both multinational Chinese telecommunications companies. They both accomplished such great numbers with a combination of lower-cost and higher-end smartphones for the mass market. Huawei saw and 89.5 percent growth in the past year, while ZTE saw 48.4 percent growth.

You may be surprised to learn that both Huawei and ZTE have Android phones, Huawei has Windows Phones, and ZTE is expected to have Windows Phones soon.

Huawei Ascend D2

The two companies are still currently little competition for Samsung and Apple. However, they have long-term potential to become leaders in the Chinese market, where nearly one billion people have yet to get a smartphone. With a choice of lower-cost and higher-end smartphones, I personally think it’s only a matter of time!

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