Smartphone vendors winners and shakers

Last year has been a huge year for a lot of phone vendors as smartphone shipments grew to 1.293 units for 2015.

Leading the pack is still Samsung representing close to a quarter of the total shipments. The Korean company has been doing well with the introduction of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge as well as the Note 5. It also introduced newer series like the expanded Galaxy A and Galaxy J series. However, that did not stop the decline in terms market share (24.8 percent from 27.8 percent the previous year).

Apple is still a strong number 2 with a higher market share of  17.5 percent compared to the 16.4 percent the previous year. The sales of the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6S Plus, despite the seemingly incremental upgrades, fuelled a strong fiscal year for the company. This year, we'll expect a more positive response as they unveil the iPhone 7 and a more conservative iPhone 5SE (according to rumors and leaks we've seen).

Jumping to number 3 in the rankings is Huawei which took 8.4 percent market share, up from 6.2 percent the previous year. Huawei overtook the combined shipments of Lenovo and Motorola which used to be in the 3rd place at 7.9 percent.

Lenovo, Xiaomi and LG are closely tied at 5.6 percent, 5.4 percent and 5.3 percent respectively. OPPO went up to number 8, replacing Sony which used to be on that spot but has dropped off from the top 10.

Interesting to note that Xiaomi has managed to climb up the charts despite limited releases and few models announced in 2015. The company managed to get a sizable market share in homeland China to be able to generate those numbers.

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Apple continues to beat market expectations considering they only have a release cycle of once a year since they joined the smartphone race in January 2007.

Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, and even OPPO increased their market share while more recognized and established brands like LG and Sony took a hit.

As demand for smartphones increase, prices for entry-level Android devices also decrease and has even breached the $20 mark. This makrs it harder for high profile brands like LG and Sony to compete.

The trend is also the same in the Philippines. Local brands that have Chinese roots dominate the rankings led by Cherry Mobile and MyPhone. Together with Torque, Cloudfone, SKK and StarMobile, their combined shipments for 2015 is in the north of 50 percent of the total volume.

The number will continue to swell this year and it looks like the Chinese-affiliated brands will continue to dominate. Eventually, we'll be seeing sub-$10 handsets and witness smartphone penetration increase significantly.

Source: Smartphone vendors winners and shakers