Samsung, Apple and LG Dominate Smartphone Shipments in Q3: Survey

A third quarter survey indicates Samsung, Apple and LG are the top three smartphone vendors in terms of shipments globally. Chinese smartphone makers like Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo are on the fourth, fifth and seventh positions respectively.

The report released by Digitimes Research however adds that Xiaomi, which launched its Redmi Note and Redmi Note 4G in India on Monday, still remains on top when it comes to shipment growth rate. The firm had nearly 200 percent year-on-year growth in shipments in the third quarter. ZTE, another Chinese telecom operator and handset maker, has disappeared from the top 10 list.

The report states that the smartphone shipments are expected to hit the 1.219 billion units mark in 2014, and 1.488 billion units in 2015. Notably, Digitimes has not detailed which smartphone manufacturers occupy the sixth, eighth, ninth, and 10th positions. Digitimes says the data was compiled from reports by vendors and data from supply chain sources.

Though Samsung stays as the top smartphone vendor as per Digitimes Research, the company is currently said to be underperforming with its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone in the global market.

A report from Wall Street Journal has mentioned that the company sold only 12 million Samsung Galaxy S5 units in the first three months after its launch, which if compared to its predecessor (the Galaxy S4), significantly lower (4 million units).

In the meantime, Samsung has announced plans to slash the number of smartphone models it issues next year by up to one-third. The strategy is expected to be accompanied by a significant increase in the production of remaining models so that the company can further reduce costs to compete with cut-price Chinese rivals.

For the moment, Samsung is still the comfortable leader by sales volume, but its share of the global smartphone market has fallen from 35 percent a year ago to just under 25 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.