Strategy Analytics: First-quarter smartphone total shipments

In the first quarter of 2014, global smartphone shipments reached 285 million units, up 33% from 213.9 million shipments in the first quarter of 2013. Samsung and Apple still dominate the global market for nearly half of smartphones.

Samsung's smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year accounted for 89 million units, accounting for 31% of the world's market share, slightly smaller than the 32% market share in the same period last year. This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 2009 that Samsung's share of the market has slipped. Samsung has rival Apple in high-end smartphones and is facing attacks from Chinese smartphone makers in the low-end smartphone market.

Apple's handset shipments in the first quarter of this year were 43.7 million, with market share falling to 15% from 17% in the first quarter of last year, with unsatisfactory results. While Apple is making a lot of money on the iphone's continued sale, it has lost its lead in some rapidly growing markets, such as Latin America, because of a lack of entry-level product support.

Samsung and Apple collectively accounted for 47% per cent of the market, a slight decline from 50% per cent in the same period last year. And the "two giants" in the market share of the decline in the trend, the second tier of mobile phone manufacturers in the field of smart phones better performance.

With its successful foray into the European market, Huawei has maintained a 5% per cent market share. Lenovo's market share rose to 5% from 4% a year earlier, thanks to strong market growth in China. Meanwhile, Lenovo's smartphone business will move more quickly into more countries as a result of a previous takeover of Motorola, which will bring greater challenges to Samsung and Apple's second-quarter business.