BARCELONA - Samsung defends its crown since the world’s top smartphone maker Monday, unveiling a brand new premier smartphone facing tougher markets and a rising challenge from China.
On the opening day of the four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the South Korean giant launches its flagship device, most likely a Galaxy S5 smartphone rumored to be designed with a fingerprint scanner and larger screen.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. POCHOLO CONCEPCION
Samsung’s brand was stamped on significantly more than 30 % of smartphones sold on earth a year ago, about twice the share of archrival Apple, which traditionally skips the world’s largest mobile fair.
Despite Samsung’s dominance, early signs are emerging of difficult times ahead.
A 42. 3-percent surge in smartphone sales to 968 million units a year ago was propelled very nearly entirely by developing markets, based on research house Gartner Inc.
The world wide boom disguised a slowdown in the mature markets such Western Europe and the usa, which would be the most profitable, it said.
Consequently, smartphone makers are scrambling for new sourced elements of revenue.
“We might find every one of the handset organizations answering slowing growth in the smartphone market and the problem of creating money, ” said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst of electronics and media at research house IHS.
“They are likely to launch numerous smart accessory devices including wearable devices which will let them have opportunities in new markets to build revenues and growth. ”
Samsung ergo launched an updated smart watch, kit 2, on Sunday, adding new features and ditching
Google’s Android in support of an unique os.
Besides numerous features including sports tracking pc software and a heartbeat monitor, kit 2 marks an essential and widely anticipated step towards independence from Android.
New challenge from China
But Samsung faces other significant challenges, too, somewhat from China.
Indeed, hours after Samsung launched kit 2, rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei unveiled a connected watch of an unique.
Huawei, already an important force in building mobile networks and the entire world number 3 smartphone maker in 2013, showed off its TalkBand, to be sold for 99 euros ($136).
Connected by Bluetooth to a smartphone, the watch allows you to receive calls and messages without removing your mobile from your own pocket, along with measuring the steps you simply take with a podometer as well as following your sleep pattern.
Other Chinese handset makers have world wide ambitions, too.
China’s Lenovo, the amount four smartphone manufacturer in 2013, in January agreed the $2. 9 billion purchase of the loss-making Motorola Mobility from Google to seize a powerful platform in the Americas and a foothold in Europe.
At precisely the same time, the world wide web is elbowing its way to the mobile market.
Facebook’s 29-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg could be the star speaker on the opening day of the fair in Barcelona, fresh from his $19 billion takeover of smartphone messenger WhatsApp.
He's come a considerable ways in the mobile world quickly.
When Facebook sold its shares to people in an initial public offering in-may 2012, “it literally had no mobile advertising revenues, ” said Eden Zoller, analyst at the investigation house Ovum.
“It did have quite a strong mobile user base at IPO but what it had did not do during those times was actually monetize those mobile users, ” she said.
Nevertheless the myspace and facebook - boasting significantly more than - 2 billion members - quickly repaired its strategy.
By the conclusion of 2013 mobile phones accounted for 53 per cent of Facebook’s advertising revenue, getting $1. 2 billion within the last few quarter and much more than $3 billion within the whole year.
