Models show the latest smartphone models released by LG Electronics. Once a hard sell due to high prices and the lack of a software ecosystem, smartphones, which enable a wealth of Internet, multimedia and entertainment features atop of voice, are going mass market here, reviving what has been a stagnant handset market. / Korea Times |
Mobile Phone Sales Reach 5-Month High
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
It appears that the ongoing consumer craze for smartphones and other premium devices is injecting new life into the handset market.
According to data for January released by handset vendors, the retail sales of mobile phones here hit the 2-million mark for the first time in five months, triggered by a healthy demand for smartphones such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung Electronics' Omnia II.
The country's three biggest mobile phone manufacturers ― Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech ― are optimistic about their prospects for the first-half of the year as smartphones and other types of touch-screen phones continue to go mass market.
Smartphones, which work like handheld computers, provide a wealth of data and multimedia features atop of voice, including Web browsing, e-mail, video, music and games.
These products are becoming increasingly critical for handset vendors as they provide larger margins than conventional handsets.
Korean mobile phone makers have yet to produce devices that can compete with the iPhones and BlackBerries of the world, and witnessed Apple's do-it-all smartphone gain serious ground on their home turf after local mobile carrier KT released the handset in November.
However, the companies are now preparing to make up for their late start as they expect to release a slew of new smartphones starting this month, many of them powered by the Google-backed Android operating system.
The retail sales of phones last month reached 2.1 million units, 9 percent more than the 1.93 million last December and representing a 40 percent growth year-on-year, growing for the third consecutive month since last November.
"Since the local release of the Apple's third-generation (3G) iPhones last year, smartphones are maintaining momentum as tech-savvy local consumers continue to pick them up," said an analyst from Strategy Analytics (SA), Tuesday.
"The falling prices of the devices, as well as heavy marketing campaigns by mobile carriers like KT and SK Telecom are also helping the smartphone segment to expand."
The number of smartphones sold in January is estimated to be around 320,000, representing about 15 percent of the total handset market, according to data released by the companies.
Samsung Electronics retained its top spot with a 57.1 percent share of the mobile phone market last month, when it sold 1.20 million handsets.
LG Electronics, the perennial industry runner-up, finished January with a 21.7 percent share, after selling 445,000 units, while Pantech managed a 13 percent share.
Despite the buzz generated by iPhone, Samsung defended its top spot in the smartphone segment, selling around 180,000 units of its Omnia-branded smartphone series last month, which accounted for about 56 percent of all smartphone sales.
KT sold more than 140,000 iPhones in the month of December, but with the pent-up demand apparently exhausted, sales were slower in January.
Although KT didn't release its exact sales figures, it is estimated that iPhone's share in the handset market dropped to 6 percent in January, compared to over 10 percent at the end of last year.
"The sales for our Haptic and Corby full touch-screen phones were strong, and the Omnia handsets continue to be well-recieved among both general mobile users and corporate users," a Samsung Electronics spokesman said.
Also, the cases of phone number changes among Korea's top three carriers in January rose by 36.9 percent on a yearly basis to reach 481,123, the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA) said.
"The local telecom and handset market will extend the momentum in February due to heated competition in smartphones between manufacturers and in wireless data market between carriers amid the industry's new landscape," an SK Telecom official said.
Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung Electronics' telecommunication division, will unveil Samsung's updated smartphone-related strategies at Thursday's press conference in Seoul.
yckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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