Apple and Samsung have been dominating the smartphone market for several years but competition is becoming increasingly fierce and players like Huawei, Sony, HTC and LG are trying to conquer users with new features.
The smartphone is the obvious choice for any user today. Classic handsets have fallen out of favor and are bought only by users in developing countries. Last year there were 1.75 billion mobile phones sold, down 1.7% compared to sales in 2011, according to Gartner. Last year there were 712.6 million smartphones shipped worldwide, according to IDC, and this year the number will reach one billion.
Last year Samsung shipped 215.8 million smartphones, followed by Apple, with 135.9 million devices, and Nokia with 35.1 million units. They are followed by HTC and Blackberry with 32.6 million units and 32.5 million units, respectively. The statistics in the fourth quarter, however, were quite different. Companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Sony have entered the top of the largest manufacturers of smartphones.
There is no manufacturer that stands firmly currently third in global sales of smartphones, according to Anshul Gupta, a researcher at Gartner. He considers that the success of Apple and Samsung is based on the strength of their brands as much as on their actual products.
There are opportunities for other players the smartphone market which can quickly gain market share, especially with cheaper products, according to Kevin Restivo, IDC researcher.
Samsung has recently launched its newest phone, the Galaxy S4 in New York. It will compete with the future Apple phone, but phones currently on the market are equally efficient. The list include HTC One, LG Optimus G Pro, Huawei Ascend P2 and Sony Xperia Z.
Samsung Galaxy S4 is thinner and more powerful than the previous version, with 130 grams and an eight-core CPU clocked at 1.6 GHz or a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.9 GHz quad-core. The phone comes with the first 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display in the world, a 13 MP camera, 2 GB RAM memory and a thickness of only 7.9 mm.
Also 7.9 mm thick is the Sony Xperia Z. The Xperia Z comes with a 5-inch screen, quad-core processor at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP camera, storage up to 32 GB and is also dust- and water-proof (IP55 and IP57 standards). The Taiwanese from HTC designed their most powerful smartphone with a aluminum casing. With a thickness of 9.3 mm, HTC One comes with a 4 megapixel camera. This includes an f/2.0 aperture lens and UltraPixels sensor that holds 300% more light than traditional sensors of a smartphone camera, which means great pictures even in low light conditions. This phone has a great sound quality. HTC One is equipped with dual front stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, which provide a very low distortion sound, unlike any other smartphone.
LG is out of the box with the Optimus G Pro. It has the largest screen on a LG smartphone, 5.5 inches and includes 4G LTE technology. The new smartphone offers best-in-class battery life of 3140 mAh, allowing Full HD watching for several hours. In addition, the rear camera is 13 MP and with the 2.1 MP front camera users can take pictures and Full HD movies, the same quality as that offered by HDTVs.
Chinese from Huawei are new entrants to the smartphone market, and they launched at the latest edition of the Mobile World Congress the Ascend P2, promoted as the fastest 4G LTE smartphone in the world. Ascend P2 comes with a quad-core CPU 1.5 GHz and LTE Cat 4 technology, which allows download speeds of up to 150 Mbps. Huawei had an excellent fourth quarter, which helped them reach the third position among smartphone vendors. The devices competing Apple and Samsung phones are countless, some more efficient or cheaper, but can the users see beyond the Galaxy and iPhone smartphones?
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