Telecom Lead India: IHS’ prediction that Samsung will overtake Nokia as the #1 mobile phone maker in 2012 has surprised several mobile industry professionals.

It has meant a lot — continuation of struggle to the Finnish phone major and strong supremacy for the Korean consumer electronics giant which has already emerged as the largest smartphone maker in the world toppling Apple.

According to IHS, Samsung is expected to account for 29 percent of cell phone shipments from 24 percent in 2011, while Nokia’s share will drop to 24 percent from 30 percent last year.

The status that Nokia will not be the top global cell phone brand in 2012 – a record Nokia will be missing for the first time in 14 years – will continue to hurt the Finnish company. Nokia may not be able to recover from its pain as smartphone – a segment dominated by Samsung – will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012.

Smartphone shipments are set to rise by 35.5 percent this year, while cell phone shipments will increase by approximately 1 percent. This growth will propel 2012 smartphone penetration to 47 percent from 35 percent in 2011.

Samsung strategies have paid off well in the recent 2-3 quarters.

IHS says Samsung produces new smartphone models every year that address both high-end and low-end markets. It monitors big trends in smartphone design, user needs and unmet market opportunities, then creates products to fit those markets quickly and efficiently.

Samsung’s smartphone shipments will increase to 28 percent from 20 percent in 2011. Samsung has sold more than 30 million Galaxy S III smartphones since its launch in May. It is expected to sell well during the current holiday season.

Samsung made significant gains in both the high end as well as the low-cost market with its Galaxy line of smartphones. This diversified market approach has allowed Samsung to address larger target audience than Apple’s limited premium iPhone line.

IHS anticipates that the smartphone penetration rate in 2013 will elevate smartphones into the majority among all phone segments, at 56 percent.

The recent U.S. court ruling on the Apple-Samsung patent issue has not yet impacted the Korean device major’s phone market share in America.

Recently, comScore said Samsung increased its OEM market share by 0.7 percent to 26.3 percent during the three month average period ending October 2012 from 25.6 percent in July 2012.

TelecomLead.com already predicted that encouraged by Q3 2012 financial result, Samsung Electronics is more confident to selling smartphones and tablets in the next quarter than Apple that is recording huge sales from iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

The October-November-December quarter is Q4 for Samsung and Q1 for Apple. In December quarter, Apple forecast revenue of $52 billion, below the average estimate of $55 billion though consumers will start responding to Apple’s iPad mini during the holiday season.

Apple already ended its fiscal 2012 with 45 percent increase in revenue to $156.5 billion, while net income was up 61 percent at $41.7 billion.

Note: TelecomLead.com’s editors have selected this news based on the impact it created on the industry and the sector.

Krishna Aravind
[email protected]