Shipment volume of the global mobile phone industry has reached approximately 529 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, 373 million of which are smartphones. Smartphone shipments alone grew 12.7% compared to the third quarter of 2014, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a Taipei-based ICT research institute.

"Although there has been a pickup in smartphone shipment volume, Samsung still saw its market share slide further in the second half of 2014. The setback of Samsung has been attributed mainly to the intense competition from both high- and low-end competitors," said Edward Lin, the industry analyst with MIC. He added that, "at the high-end sector, the release of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus filled up the gap of Apple in the phablet segment, posing threats on Samsung's high-end models. When it comes to lower-end sector, Samsung is not competitive enough compared with Chinese brands in price-based competition."

Source: MIC, December 2014

What is noteworthy is that years ago many first-tier international brands like Sony, LG and HTC also suffered from the same situation that Samsung is currently facing. Though noticing the changes in the business model from hardware to innovative application services are essential for the future, those brands however have difficulties to duplicate the success of Xiaomi in apps and services while dropping the hardware-focused business concept.

In 2014 the global smartphone industry's shipment volume is estimated to have totaled around 1.28 billion units, up 30.3% year-on-year. Smartphones have contributed 66.9% of the global mobile phone shipments in 2014. Looking ahead to 2015, the global smartphone industry is expected to continuously enjoy robust shipment growth at around 17%, reaching around 1.5 billion units.

To see more about this report, please visit: Worldwide Major Mobile Phone Performance, 4Q 2014

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english