Global smartphone sales up in June – Strategy Analytics

MANILA, Philippines – Global smartphone shipments are up in the second quarter of 2014 fueled by a surge in demand in Asia and Africa. 

Data intelligence company Strategy Analytics reports 295 million smartphones were shipped from April to June 2014 up 27% from the same period last year.

The “star performer” of the period is Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi that reached Top 5 in the global rankings for the first time ever. The company revised projections earlier this year and hopes to sell 60M smartphones by the end of 2014. Xiaomi reports it has sold 26.1M smartphones in the first half of 2014, just slightly off target but expects a spike as it launches in India this quarter. 

Samsung marketshare is down significantly, 33% annually. Earlier this week the Korean tech giant reported that net profits were down due to slow smartphone sales. This is disturbing news for Samsung because the second quarter is the same period following the release of its flagship smartphone the Galaxy S5. 

Samsung however holds on to its lead with 74.5 million smartphones shipped, Apple is in second with 35 million. Huawei is taking advantage of the fast growing LTE-market with its new flagship the Ascend P7 smartphone. Lenovo’s smartphone growth have remained somewhat flat and remains in 4th place. The other South Korean company LG remains to be popular in markets like the United States but isn’t as strong in emerging markets in China and India.  – Rappler.com