Won-yong Lee, Gounee Yang

Global Economic News

SAMSUNG Electronics has retained its leading position in the Latin American smartphone market in the third quarter, according to monthly smartphone sales report released by global market research firm Counterpoint Research.

But Samsung’s market share dropped to around 30 percent as the South Korean giant faces stiff competition from its Chinese rivals such as Xiaomi and Oppo.

Samsung took 37 percent of the Latin American smartphone market, down from 42 percent in the third quarter a year ago. Motorola came in second with 23 percent. Motorola narrowed the gap with Samsung in Argentina and Brazil, and topped in the Mexico, beating Samsung from the second quarter.

Chinese vendors are rapidly expanding. The market share of Xiaomi (6→12 percent), ZTE (2→5 percent) and Oppo (0→4 percent) significantly increased. Xiaomi ranked second in Colombia and Peru and the gap with Samsung is gradually narrowing.

Currently, Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme are actively targeting the Latin American market to increase their market share.