According to the survey of trendforce, a Global Market Research Institute, the global smartphone shipment season in the fourth quarter of 2013 grew by 6.5% to 265million units, an increase of 32.2% compared with the same period last year. Driven by Apple's new phones, the proportion of shipments of high-priced mobile phones increased from 35% in the third quarter to 37%, while the proportion of shipments of low-priced mobile phones (the market price is 450~150usd) remained at about 50%. In 2013, the annual shipment volume was 945million pieces, with an annual growth rate of 33.5%. Trendforce pointed out that in order to achieve the 2013 sales target, mobile phone manufacturers used the sales rush in the fourth quarter to deliver goods, resulting in an increase in inventory pressure. In the first quarter of this year, affected by inventory digestion and new machine expectations, it is estimated that global smartphone shipments will decline slightly by 5.1%, showing the first decline in shipments in several years.
Competition between the strong and the strong, apple vs. Samsung in the high-end smartphone market
According to trendforce data, Samsung shipped about 80million units in the fourth quarter, with a slight growth of 3.8%. Although Samsung continues to grow in smartphone shipments, its high-end models continue to decline in overall shipments. In the first quarter of 2013, high-end smartphones accounted for nearly 50% of Samsung's overall shipments. However, by the second half of 2013, the proportion of high-end models has dropped to 38%. Low - and middle-priced products have become the main force of shipment growth, which is one of the reasons why Samsung's profits in the fourth quarter were not as expected.
In the fourth quarter of last year, apple, which competed with Samsung in high-end smart phones, made great strides in the Chinese market with iphone5. The overall iPhone shipment reached 50million units, with a quarter success of 47.8%, an increase of 11.2% compared with the same period last year. Among them, about 34million iphone5s were shipped, accounting for nearly 70% of the total shipments. Trendforce believes that the iphone5 launched by apple in the third quarter of last year has included China in the first wave of sales list, which really helps to expand Apple's market share in China, rising from 5% to 12%. It is expected that after the TD version of China Mobile is sold in the first quarter of 2014, Apple's influence in the Chinese market will gradually expand.
In addition, trendforce picked out two dark horses in the smart phone market in 2014, namely Sony and LG. This year, Sony devoted its resources to the development of smart phone products and its key electronic parts, successfully increasing the market share of smart phones in Japan's local market to more than 20%. The shipment of the whole series of products has increased significantly since the first quarter of 2013. By the fourth quarter of this year, the shipment of a single quarter has reached more than 12million pieces, with a quarterly growth of 1.6%, an increase of 62% compared with the same period last year, and the global market share in the third quarter has increased to 5%. Among the top ten, another batch of dark horse LG benefited from the OEM orders of googlenexus series. LG shipped more than 11million pieces in the fourth quarter, a quarter growth of 2%, a 57% growth compared with the same period last year, and the global market share increased to 4.2%.
Samsung Apple's firepower is fierce, and Chinese brands are suppressed
In the fourth quarter of this year, China's top four brands, except Coolpad, which pressed the border with mobile phones lower than 300RMB, saw a slight decline in shipments compared with the third quarter. The reason is that the stock preparation effect during the National Day holiday is not as enthusiastic as in previous years, and the strong landing of new models released by foreign brands such as Samsung and apple at the end of the third quarter has the greatest impact. Trendforce believes that the local mobile phone brands in China that can be expected in 2014 are TCL and Xiaomi. Although TCL's total shipment volume is only the second and third tier among Chinese brands, it has been recognized by Alcatel in terms of quality and product level, and has won new OEM orders to stabilize overseas exports. Xiaomi obtained a high cost-effective mobile phone pass in the highly competitive market, and continuously demonstrated Chinese innovation through public activities. Driven by full brand strength, it sold 40million mobile phones in 2014.
