Huawei returned to the list of top 5 worldwide vendors, emphasizing its midrange and high-end smartphones (P Series and Mate Series respectively), and saw continued success with its Honor line. Huawei attributed its 2014 success to improved brand awareness and overall customer experience, which it will look to evolve even further in 2015.
Xiaomi fell from the third position to fifth in 4Q14, beating out LG for the final spot among the top 5. Even though volumes declined slightly from 3Q14 levels, Xiaomi posted the largest year-over-year growth of all the leading vendors, thanks to a solid demand within its home country of China and a steady release of new devices, including the Mi4 LTE. Xiaomi's grip on the number 5 spot is tenuous at best, with LG and ZTE following close behind.
Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, Market Share and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q4 2014 Preliminary Data (Units in Millions)
| Vendor |
4Q14
|
4Q14 Market
|
4Q13
|
4Q13 Market
|
Year-Over-
|
||||||||||
| 1. Samsung | 75.1 | 20.01% | 84.4 | 28.83% | -11.0% | ||||||||||
| 2. Apple | 74.5 | 19.85% | 51.0 | 17.43% | 46.0% | ||||||||||
| 3. *Lenovo | 24.7 | 6.59% | 13.9 | 4.75% | 77.9% | ||||||||||
| 4. Huawei | 23.5 | 6.25% | 16.6 | 5.66% | 41.7% | ||||||||||
| 5. Xiaomi | 16.6 | 4.42% | 5.9 | 2.03% | 178.6% | ||||||||||
| Others | 160.9 | 42.9% | 120.9 | 41.31% | 33.1% | ||||||||||
| Total | 375.2 | 100.0% | 292.7 | 100.0% | 28.2% | ||||||||||
| *Lenovo + Motorola | 24.7 | 6.6% | 19.5 | 6.7% | 26.4% | ||||||||||
