After Samsung had unveiled their latest flagship devices, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, the company had high hopes that it would prosper and grow. It predicted to ship 50 million units of the new S6 series. In reality however, things are turning out a bit differently, notably in India and China. The two markets where more and more of the population is anxious to get their hands on the latest smartphone, do not show the same desire for Samsung phones as they once did.
Although Samsung still has the biggest market share of phone producers in India, the company saw its shipments shrink by 5.5% from January to March in 2015. Blaming Samsung for this and claiming it’s because they bring inferior products to the table doesn’t seem all that fair when taking into account that the Indian market’s aggregate demand for phones contracted by 15% over the last quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of last year, Samsung’s share was up by 9.9% in China compared to the same period a year before.
The decrease of market share is one that’s been rather persistent over the past few months. In the second quarter of 2014 Samsung lost its first place spot in terms of market share in China to Xiaomi. Since then, even Huawei and Apple have overtaken the Korean company, leaving her at a disappointing 4th place in a very short time. In Q1 of 2014 Samsung had an impressive 18.5% share in China, whereas in 2015 this market share amounted to merely 8.6%. Meanwhile Apple fared rather well with an 7% share increase, Xiaomi’s share increased by 2.6% and Huawei grew 2.5% in China.
Despite Samsung’s loss in the Indian and Chinese market share however, the company still sold more phones than any other company in Q1 of 2015, proving it doesn’t require the strong market it once had in India and China to have the biggest global market share. However, that does not mean that Samsung should turn a blind eye. Clearly there is ample potential in China, with companies like Apple having their best quarter in that very region. China and India have a combined estimated 40% of their population hooked on a smartphone. Those statistics alone depict the lucrative possibilities for any company that satisfies the population’s demand.