According to a worldwide market share survey conducted by Nikkei Newspaper, Korean companies ranked first in 2012 in eight of 50 products and services. The United States and Japan had the greatest market shares with 19 and 12, respectively.
Samsung Electronics beat Finland’s Nokia, seizing the largest market share in cellphones while Samsung SDI defeated Japan's Panasonic in selling the most lithium-ion batteries.
LG Display (24.6 percent) trounced last year's number one, Samsung Electronics (20.1 percent), emerging as this year's biggest marketer of LCD panels.
Samsung reached the most sales in seven digital categories, including cellphones. Korean companies ranked first in two more categories than last year.
While Samsung Electronics’ market share of cellphones expanded by 4.2 percent to 23.5 compared to last year, Nokia's decreased by 5 percent to 19.3.
Samsung SDI saw its market share of lithium ion battery increase by 1.9 percent to 25.1. With the second highest market share, Panasonic, experienced a 2.8 percent decrease to its current 20.7.
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (11.7 percent) trumped General Motors (11.2 percent) of the U.S. and reclaimed their position as the top player.
Japan dominated in 12 categories, including video camera (Sony, 44.0 percent), digital camera (Canon, 22.6 percent), and game consoles (Nintendo, 41.4 percent).
China ranked first in six categories, three of which are major appliances like refrigerators.