Samsung's Q1 smartphone sales likely to hit record: report

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top smartphone maker, is likely to see another record for smartphone sales in the first quarter despite seasonally low demand, a report showed Wednesday.

   Samsung Electronics has sold an estimated 25 million smartphones each month this year, which is expected to drive its quarterly sales to over 70 million units, according to the report by Hong Kong-based market researcher Counterpoint Research.

   The South Korean manufacturer continued to dominate the global smartphone market with its market share in the first two months of the year standing at 35 percent, compared with 32 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

   Meanwhile, Apple Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. also saw their market shares increase in the January-February period from the final quarter of last year.

   Apple's market share reached 21 percent, up from 17 percent, while LG Electronics' market share stood at 4.3 percent, up from 4 percent, according to the report.

   Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone manufacturers continued to see growing demand, with their combined market share reaching 21 percent.

   ZTE claimed 4.6 percent of the market in the two-month period, while Huawei controlled 4.4 percent of the market, the report showed.


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