1. Samsung
Samsung shipped total 99 million mobile phones as the sales of non-smartphone feature phones declined as the world is moving towards smartphones now.
Apple Inc. is headquartered in California, US. It was founded on 1st April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
Microsoft completed acquisition of Nokia Devices & Services division during the 2nd quarter of 2014 and formed Microsoft Mobile as a hardware business unit for devices.
Samsung shipped total 99 million mobile phones as the sales of non-smartphone feature phones declined as the world is moving towards smartphones now.
Smartphone shipments however rose to 83.3 million units taking back the leading position in smartphone segment from Apple after Apple’s solid holiday season quarter of 2014. However premium smartphone shipments with S5 & Note 4 shipments declined as the premium segment was dominated by Apple, ahead of Samsung Galaxy S6 roll out in Q2 2015. In terms of regional performance, Assembly plants and Sales network of Samsung Electronics is present in 80 Countries. Samsung is world’s largest manufacturer of Mobile phones since 2011. Samsung had discontinued its eBook store with effect from 1st July 2014 and partnered with Amazon for Kindle for Samsung apps. In quarter 1 of 2015, Samsung’s profit dropped by 39% to $4.39 billion due to heavier competition from Apples iPhone 6 and 6S and other android manufacturers. Samsung’s flagship mobile handset is Samsung galaxy S line. Samsung kept supporting various Operating Systems like Symbian, Linux-based Limo, Windows and Samsung propitiatory Bada, but by 2013 Samsung has dropped all Operating Systems except Android and Windows.
2. Apple
Apple Inc. is headquartered in California, US. It was founded on 1st April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
Apple is world’s 2nd largest IT Company by revenue after Samsung Electronics. Apple became the first company in US to be valued more than $700 billion. Apple enjoys high Brand loyalty and according to Interbrand Best Global brands report, is the most valuable brand. Apple continued to find success with larger screened iPhones in 2015 also. As a result, Apple iPhone revenues are now at all-time high i.e. 70% of total Apple revenues. Much of this came out of Greater China because of rapid 4G adoption and Apple retail expansion. Apple’s overall handset market climbed to 14% and the smartphone market share climbed to 18% during the 1st quarter of 2015. With iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple was able to retain its user base and also been able to recapture previous iOS users who had defected to Android mainly because of larger screens. China continues to be the strongest market for Apple as it now corresponds to almost 30% of the total corporate revenues. Apple has started to capture a good share of middle class consumers’ wallet also. As of March 2015, Apple maintains 453 retail stores in 16 countries and operates the online Apple Store and iTunes store- world’s largest musical retailer.
3. Microsoft Mobile
Microsoft completed acquisition of Nokia Devices & Services division during the 2nd quarter of 2014 and formed Microsoft Mobile as a hardware business unit for devices.
Microsoft mobile is headquartered in Finland and it is wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Principle activity of Microsoft Mobile is to design, develop, manufacture and distribute mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers and related accessories. As a part of 10-year licensing agreement, Microsoft got the right to sell phones under Nokia brand name, but those phones should be based on S30+ which comprises of feature phones not smartphones. As a result, future Lumia smartphones were not under this licence and couldn’t be released under Nokia brand. So it was decided in October 2014 that all future Lumia smartphones will carry Microsoft name and Microsoft Logo instead of Nokia. Microsoft Mobile is the 2nd venture of Microsoft in Mobile phone hardware business after Microsoft’s short
4. Lenovo (+ Motorola)
Lenovo is a Chinese computer technology company and was founded in 1984.
It has headquarters in Beijing, China and North Carolina, US. Lenovo has operations in more than 16 countries and it sells its product in around 160 countries. Lenovo has R&D centres at 8 locations and 4 Countries namely China, US, Singapore and Japan. Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business in 2005. Lenovo entered into smartphone market in 2012 and quickly became the largest vendor of smartphones in Mainland China. In October 2014 Lenovo acquired Motorola Mobility from Google. In the deal Lenovo also got future product roadmap of Motorola. Lenovo mainly purchased Motorola due to long standing relationships of Motorola with cellular network operators in US and UK. Lenovo + Motorola combined shipments during the first quarter of 2015 is estimated to be close to 22 million units with Motorola and Lenovo reaching beyond its home market especially in Americas. However, Europe is still a weak spot for the Chinese vendor. Lenovo is stronger in low- to- mid tier whereas Motorola is more in mid- to high-tier and is helping Lenovo extend portfolio across all price-points and geographies. During this quarter Motorola launched refreshed version of Moto E. Lenovo is slowly moving towards an all-LTE portfolio in China.
5. Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese networking and telecommunication company headquartered in Guangdong.
It was founded in 1987 by a former engineer in People’s Liberation Army. It has 21 R&D institutes all over the world. Huawei surpassed Xiaomi in the smartphone market. Huawei’s Smartphone shipments grew by 27% whereas the overall mobile phone shipments grew by 21%. One of its brand, Honor brand is yielding good results for Huawei with a presence in more than 60 countries around the globe. Honor brand has given successful entry into emerging economies like India where traditionally it was not strong whereas other brand Ascend is doing well in Middle East Africa and Europe. North America remains a weak spot for Huawei whereas Latin America has been strong especially, Mexico, Columbia and others. Apart from this Honor brand has managed to gain significant share in mid to high end smartphone segment, a segment which was traditionally a weak spot for Huawei. Going forward it will continue to leverage the momentum by launching more flagships in various geographies along with its online only business model in some of the regions. Huawei has shifted focus towards profitability and streamlining portfolio with mid-to premium tier models rather than focusing on lower price models and aims to ship 100 million smartphones in 2015.
6. LG
LG Electronics is a South Korean company headquartered at Seoul. It was founded in 1958 as Goldstar.
LG made the world’s first CDMA digital mobile handset in 1997. LG entered the smartphone industry in 2010. LG manufactures a wide range of tablets and smartphones. In 2013, LG unveiled the curved smartphone, G Flex which was first released in South Korea and later released in Europe, Rest of Asia and North America. LG is going to build a new headquarter in New Jersey. Google also partnered with LG to launch its nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones in 2013. LG focusses on setting new standards in Mobile technologies. LG remains at the forefront with innovative features such as 3D, bright and clear displays, multi-core processors and 4G LTE. LG shipped almost 20 million mobile phones among them 15.4 million were smartphones. North America was the brightest spot with mass market smartphones and feature phones across carriers, mainly in prepaid segment. Americas (North + Central & Latin) contributes to more than 3/4th of total smartphone sales for LG. Big and important fast growing markets such as India, China and Rest of Asia remains a weak spot for LG. Moving forward, it will launch LG G4 and mid-tier portfolio smartphones. Through these key devices LG is estimated to challenge Samsung in key markets such as Europe and North America.
7. TCL- Alcatel
TCL-Alcatel was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Hong Kong.
It is a subsidiary of TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd. In Hong Kong or mainland China, TCL Communication is one of the few companies who licenses or owns 4G, 3G, 2.75G, 2.5G and 2G -patented technologies. Independently, it is also able to develop solutions and products for the LTE, TDSCDMA, WCDMA, CDMA, EDGE, GPRS and GSM. Due to the success of its broad range of well-designed, accessibly-priced and easy-to-use mobile and internet products, which are available in over 100 countries worldwide, TCL is among the top 10 mobile companies. It has 2 brand names: TCL and ALCATEL ONE TOUCH under which it designs, manufactures and markets its portfolio of products. In 2011, for its new 4.0 series products of Smartphone, China Unicom selected TCL W989. IN 2010 it was named as the “Fastest growing major mobile vendor in the world” by Strategy Analytics. TCL-Alcatel One touch became one of the best seller of TCL. TCL unveiled the World’s Slimmest and Lightest Smartphones in 2013. It has a portfolio of low cost Smartphones and feature phones in Latin America and Europe. Alcatel received the iF Design award for outstanding design for its HERO 2 smartphone in February 2015.
8. Xiaomi
Xiaomi is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing, China.
It was co-founded by eight partners in April, 2010. It designs, develops and sells smartphones, consumer electronics and mobile apps as well. It had released its first phone in August 2011. In December 2014, it became the world’s most valuable technology start-up. Xiaomi’s shipments have declined sequentially 10% because of lower than expected sales in Greater China region due to tough competition from Meizu, Huawei and Apple. Xiaomi has achieved Million sales within five months of launch in India and it is now selling its smartphones to more than 7 countries outside China. In countries like India and Indonesia it has changed its distribution strategy from Online only to Hybrid. It will continue to invest in regional content platforms in countries like India and Indonesia and at the same time expanding in new regions like Latin America. India has become its biggest market outside China it will invest locally in terms of developing locally relevant apps with MiUi, supporting six Indian languages. Xiaomi has also entered United States, not with the mobile but its portal mi.com for related products due to high entry barriers.
9. ZTE
ZTE was founded in 1985 and ZTE mobile division was founded in 1997 and based at Shanghai.
This division is mainly dedicated to Mobile Communications products and includes products for GSM, PHS, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA technologies. In 2009, ZTE became the third largest vendor of GSM telecom equipment in world. In 2011, ZTE launched the first smartphone with dual GPS/GLONASS navigation. In August 2014, ZTE launched 5-Mode 4G LTE smartphone for China Mobile and it was powered with Marvell quad core ARMADA. In March 2015, it becomes the first smartphone company to offer Leading EyeVerify Solution through ZTE Grand S3 smartphone which gives innovative password free experience to its user. It is a leader in technology innovations, business solutions to clients and delivering superior products. ZTE has operations in over 160 countries. It has 18 R&D centres across globe. ZTE is targeting Asia Pacific region due to the expected demand of 4G infrastructure. Industries’ first TD-LTE was introduced by ZTE in 2012. First successful trial of 4G in South Asia was carried out by ZTE with Srilanka’s Mobitel. ZTE is partnering with NBA to increase its sales in US. ZTE is also planning to invest 600 crores in India for smart cities.
10. Sony Mobile
Sony Mobile is jointly headquartered in Japan and Sweden.
It was founded in 2001. It has R&D facilities in Tokyo, Chennai, Lund, Beijing and Silicon Valley. Sony merged with Ericsson in April 2001 to form Sony Ericsson. Sony Ericsson focussed on digital photography and personal information management capabilities. Few flagship devices of Sony are Sony Xperia Z3+, Sony Xperia Z4 etc. The downfall of Symbian operating system firstly by Apple’s iPhone and then by Google’s Android has affected Sony’s position in the market. In February 2012 Sonny acquired Ericsson’s stake in Sony Ericsson and Sony Ericsson became Sony Mobile Communications, wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. With acquiring stakes in Ericsson, in 2013 it has shifted its headquarter totally to Tokyo to integrate with its parent company Sony Corporation. Sony Mobile decided to phase out all feature phones by September 2012 and started focussing completely on smartphone segment only. The first Sony-only mobile was the Sony Xperia S along with Sony Xperia U and Sony Xperia P featured at 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. Sony has recently closed its Playstation Mobile due to its rocky history and heavy losses in Mobile division. Sony Vaio will enter in smartphone business soon.
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