Smartphones make over 60% of overall global 2014 mobile sales Gartner reports, reaching 1.2 billion units with 28.4% growth while overall mobile sales total 1.9bn units, a 3.9% increase over 2013.
The analyst adds the smartphone market also sees a record Q4 2014-- sales reach 367.5 million units with 29.9% Y-o-Y growth. In another Q4 first Apple topples Samsung as smartphone leader, a position the S. Korean giant has dominated since 2011.
"Samsung's performance in the smartphone market deteriorated further in Q4 2014, when it lost nearly 10 percentage points in market share," Gartner remarks. "Samsung continues to struggle to control its falling smartphone share, which was at its highest in Q3 2013. This downward trend shows that Samsung's share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure."
Samsung is under attack from two fronts-- Apple in the premium market and Chinese vendors offering quality hardware at lower prices. Thus Samsung can only secure customer loyalty through a solid app, content and service ecosystem, the analyst says.
As for Apple, the larger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are in huge demand in China and the US, leading to Q4 2014 sales of 74.8m units and smartphone market share of 20.4% (up from 17.8% in Q4 2013). The bigger handsets also led to strong replacements within the iOS base, and act as a "strong" Android alternative.
In 3rd place on both Q4 and overall 2014 rankings is Lenovo, with strong sales in both its home China and Russia, India, Indonesia and Brazil.
"Chinese vendors are no longer followers," the analyst says. "They are producing higher quality devices with appealing new hardware features that can rival the more established players in the mobile phone market. Brand building and marketing will be key activities in deciding which Chinese vendors can secure a foothold in mature markets."
On the OS front Android continues to lead, thanks to lower-price smartphones accelerating the migration of feature phone customers in emerging countries such as India, Russia and Mexico. iOS retains 2nd place, and Windows Phone follows through strong results in "some" European markets and the business segment.