The latest survey courtesy of Fitch Ratings is predicting that South Korean manufacturer Samsung should continue ruling the smartphone market for what could be at least two more years.
Fitch Ratings attributed Samsung’s present and possibly continuing success to several factors, including their ability to offer “something for everyone” – different smartphones catering to different demographics. Also cited was the overall success of the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system, which is currently the world’s most popular platform and used by various smartphone manufacturers.
And now for the juicy numbers – Fitch Ratings reported 45 million handsets sold by Samsung in the first quarter of 2012. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), in comparison, sold 35 million devices.
Samsung generated $5.85 trillion worth of profits in Q1 2012, representing a 98 percent year-on-year increase as compared to Q1 2011. Close to three-fourths of this revenue was generated through the cellular phone market.
For the rest of the year, Samsung is expected to sell 400 million handsets in total by the end of this year. 220 million of these handsets, according to Fitch, will be smartphones. Compare these projections to last year’s stats – 330 million phones sold, 97 million of them smartphones. That should translate to an impressive year-on-year increase.
Again, the secret here, according to Fitch and analysts from other firms, would be penetrating a wide variety of markets. Apart from the high-end Galaxy S3, Samsung also may be launching a new Galaxy Note “phablet” later in 2012.
The Galaxy Note has been credited with creating the phone-tablet hybrid niche, and aside from the new phablet due late 2012, an actual Galaxy Note tablet is also expected later in the year.