Apple becomes the New Leader in Smartphone Sales

The old war horse has finally been beaten in the race. It was already losing breath and now the competitors have inched ahead officially.

After 15 years of unrestrained smartphone segment dominance, the embattled Finnish major succumbed to Steve Job's Apple Inc. and Korean giant Samsung. Analysts confirmed last week that Apple and Samsung have ended Nokia's 15-year reign at the top of the smartphone sales rankings in the second quarter of the year. The US firm Apple is now the new market leader in the smartphone segment.

Nokia had ruled the roost ever since the launch of Communicator model in 1996 but couldn't handle the increasing competition from its two closest rivals Apple and Samsung during the last year or so. Then there was a record slump in its own sales as well. This sent it straight from first to third place in the three months to June. The firm's market share has dipped to 25% - its lowest level since 1999.

Apple sold a record 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter despite the fact that its iPhone 4 model is now more than a year old. Then came Samsung adding to the woes of Nokia with a sales figure of 19.2 million phones. Nokia, the wounded tiger, could only manage to sell 16.7 million handsets. However,the company can take some solace in the fact that it still remains the overall market leader in the mobile phone market comprising phones belonging to all segments.

Apple emerged as the “star performer” during the quarter, albeit, it only commands a meagre 6% of the overall market share and remains the world's fourth-biggest mobile phone seller behind Nokia, Samsung and LG.

Samsung has tremendously benefitted from the growing popularity of Google's Android OS. The ageing Symbian is proving to be a bane for Nokia with the number of takers for it diminishing. Samsung's Galaxy portfolio has struck a chord with the users, especially the high-end Galaxy S2 has seen record sales.

Strategy Analytics, a global research and consulting firm which published the report says that Samsung is now "breathing down Nokia's neck". The report clearly outlines the reasons for Nokia's fall: “An unexciting touchphone portfolio, inventory corrections in Asia and Western Europe, wavering demand for the Symbian platform and limited presence in the huge US market continue to weigh on Nokia's near-term performance”.

In India too, Nokia is facing the heat generated by Apple and Samsung. iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2 are selling like hot cakes in spite of Nokia launching a new handset every other month. HTC and LG are also performing quite well and they are eating out of Nokia's pie. And, not to forget the homegrown makers like Micromax, Lava etc. which have rolled out an array of okay-ish but cheap smartphones to combat the biggies.

The folks at Nokia need to do some hardcore brainstorming if they wish to seek a revival. And whatever they do, they have to get rid of that ancient relic called Symbian or at least overhaul it completely. Some analysts already forecast for Samsung to become the world's largest cellphone vendor next year.

Posted in: Apple,Mobiles,Nokia,Samsung,smatphone leader