Samsung is hoping to double its global smartphone market share from around 5 percent to 10 percent by the fourth quarter, according to a senior Samsung executive.
Lee Donjoo, senior vice president of the company's mobile communications division, told Bloomberg that Samsung is banking on the success of its Galaxy S smartphone. His comments largely echo those made recently by J.K. Shin, the president of Samsung's mobile communications unit.
Samsung has made it clear it plans to significantly boost its smartphone presence this year. In February the company said it aimed to triple its smartphone shipments this year, up from 6 million units last year. A jump to a 10 percent share of the smartphone market could catapult the world's No. 2 handset maker into the No. 4 slot among smartphone makers, just past HTC. According to research firm IDC, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) led the smartphone market in the most recent quarter with 39.3 percent of the market, followed by Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) with 19.4 percent, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) with 16.1 percent and HTC with 4.8 percent market share.
Samsung also said its mobile display unit will invest $2.1 billion to build an AMOLED display line that will start production in July 2011. Demand for the screens has surged as more and more handset makers release high-end smartphones.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Reuters article
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