Samsung is not only winning the Russian cellular market it is completely annihilating the competition while double overall smartphone sales. A recent report published by wireless carrier MTS reveals that while Apple saw its market share grow slightly, Samsung continues to increase its share at rapid rates.
In the first quarter of 2012 Samsung grew its Russian market share by 10.1 percent by volume from the first quarter of 2011, nearly doubling its share while hacking repeatedly at Nokia’s market for entry-level and mid-range devices.
Over a one year period Samsung watched as its market share increased from 16.2 percent to 35.7 percent of overall sales. During that same period Apple shares increased from 5.3 percent to 5.4 percent. On a profit basis Samsung couldn’t be any happier with its results, increasing profits from 14.8 percent to 32.2 percent. In comparison Apple profits were up from 6.4 percent to 7.9 percent.
The increase in Apple profits shows the tech giant earning more profit per unit than Samsung devices while selling far fewer devices. While the statistics collected include the Apple iPhone 4S they did not take into consideration the Samsung Galaxy S III which only recently released to the mass market.
In watching Samsung’s market share increase former cellular giant Nokia slipped from 58.7 percent of the market to just 34.5 percent over the same fiscal period.
In the meantime market sales in Russia are pointing towards lower-end device sales, smartphones that typically sell for $150 while the average price of a smartphone from Q1 2010 through Q1 2012 fell from 13,176 rubles to 10,598 rubles, a 20 percent drop.
