Thanks to Apple’s continued success in Japan, and Tim Cook’s big push to expand into China, everyone forgets about one of the most revealing markets the iPhone 6 has scored big in: South Korea. Why is South Korea so revealing? Because it’s none other than the stomping ground of longtime Apple rival, Samsung.
According to a report published Wednesday by Counterpoint Research, Apple is now firmly challenging Samsung in its home ground — with market share in the country rising to 33 percent, from less than 15 percent, based on the success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Samsung’s market share meanwhile plummeted from 60 percent to 46 percent.
“No foreign brand has gone beyond the 20% market share mark in the history of Korea’s smartphone industry,” said Tom Kang, research director for mobile devices at Counterpoint. “It has always been dominated by the global smartphone leader, Samsung. But iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have made a difference here, denting the competition’s phablet sales.”
There’s no doubt that the larger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been a big hit all over the world, but Samsung has also had its own challenges to deal with. Based on several disappointing financial quarters, Samsung’s overall profit for 2014 shrank to its lowest figure in three years as market share collapsed. Samsung additionally wildly overestimated the appeal of its Galaxy S5 handset, missing projections by 40-50 percent.
While market share isn’t everything when it comes to mobile devices, it’s got to sting Samsung that while its own business runs into problems, Apple is doing better than ever.
Karma, eh?
Via: Wall Street Journal
