Preliminary data from International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that emerging markets are acting as the catalyst for the growth of the smartphone market with Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) as major players in the market.
According to IDC, the smartphone market grew 23.1% year over year in the second quarter of 2014 to a total of 295.3 million unit shipments with a wide range of Chinese OEMs more than outpacing the market in the quarter.
By far the most impressive was Huawei, shipping 20.3 million units in the second quarter of 2014 as against 10.4 million units during the same period in 2013. This growth represents 95.1% growth in shipments. Lenovo also had a strong performance, shipping 15.8 million units in the second quarter of 2014 as against 11.4 million units in the same period in 2013. This represents 38.7% growth in shipments.
The growth in the shipments of the Chinese vendor is attributed to their offering of smartphones at a better value than the top global players.
Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker says “As the death of the feature phone approaches more rapidly than before, it is the Chinese vendors that are ready to usher emerging market consumers into smartphones. The offer of smartphones at a much better value than the top global players but with a stronger build quality and larger scale than local competitors gives these vendors a precarious competitive advantage.”
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