Hampshire, UK: Juniper Research in its latest report released the number of smartphone shipments which exceeded 375m in Q4 2014, with an annual total of over 1.2 billion smartphones shipped for 2014, representing a 29% y-o-y growth.
Samsung shipped an estimated 315m smartphones in 2014 accounting for 25% of all smartphone shipments; however the company reported its first annual earnings decline in 3 years. The company witnessed another quarterly fall in shipments and market share, to just over 76m in Q4 2014, representing a 3% decline.
Meanwhile, Apple posted a record quarter of 74.5m iPhone sales, representing q-o-q growth of 90% and y-o-y growth of 46% compared to Q4 2013. With the demand for iPhones driven by the 6 and 6 Plus models, the company for the first time ever, sold more iPhones in China than in the US. Despite closing in on Samsung in Q4, Apple had a market share of 15% for the full year in 2014.
Juniper Research notes noted that the reception of the iPhone 6 Plus has indicated a large potential for Apple phablets and is expected to further accelerate the ‘Bigger Screen’ trend. However, potential releases from budget vendors could outpace their expansion and reduce Apple’s overall market share in the category over time. Juniper estimates Apple to account for 30% of the Phablets (5.5”-6.9” screen) market in 2015.
Lenovo-Motorola combined is estimated to have shipped over 90m smartphones in 2014, managing to improve its market share to just over 7%. Microsoft meanwhile reported 10.5 million Lumia shipments in Q4 2014, driven by low-cost models.
Huawei improved its market share y-o-y, shipping over 70 million smartphones in 2014, with the Honor line of devices accounting for nearly 28% of the total.
Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.