China: Q1 2014 Smartphone Market Share: Samsung 18%,Lenovo 12%, Xiaomi 11%, Apple 10%

Francisco De Jesùs.

Xiaomi Tech, a Chinese smartphone maker, outpaced US giant Apple Inc. Share in China's market during the first Quarter 2014, data showed Wednesday, emerging as another threat to Samsung Electronics.

Xiaomi became the No. 3 player in the region with a market share of 11 percent, outdoing Apple for the first time, according to the data by Counterpoint Technology Market Research. 

Samsung kept the first position  18%, Lenovo 12%, Xiaomi 11%, Apple 10% ,China's Coolpad and Huawei accounted for 10 percent and 8 percent of the Chinese market, respectively.

ZTE Corp.. and Oppo Electronics Corp. took up 6 percent and 3 percent of the Chinese market in the January-March period. 

Industry Watchers said the Rise of Xiaomi is significant for the industry as China is the World's Largest market for smartphones, although most of the demand is centered on low- end models. "During the Quarter, Xiaomi Outside of Mainland China also expanded into Singapore Markets , where Launched with Three Operators across its portfolio," said Neil Shah, a Researcher at Counterpoint.

Press Release: 

Latest research from our Market Monitor service highlighted,Xiaomi climbing to become sixth largest smartphone brand and eight largest handset brand during Q1 2014. 

• This was possible due to impressive performance by the Chinese vendor in its home market, thanks to the strong holiday season performance especially in January & February.
• As a result, Xiaomi raced to become the third largest smartphone brand in China in terms of shipment volumes for the march ending quarter for the first time ever. Xiaomi surpassed Apple, Coolpad and Huawei.
• During the quarter, Xiaomi also expanded outside of mainland China into market such as Singapore where it launched its portfolio across all the major three operators e.g. StarHub offered Redmi at $0 down with postpaid plan
• Xiaomi has grown by leaps and bounds over last 24 months with highly effective guerrilla marketing,innovative sales channels from online to mobile (e.g. WeChat) and growing retail footprint in China, HK and Taiwan
• Xiaomi will look forward to replicate the same performance in international markets which it plans to expand into benefiting from growing mindshare, marketshare, portfolioshare and top-line
• Xiaomi with its recent launch of Xiaomi RedMi Note filled an important portfolio gap alongside mid-tier RedMi and flagship Mi3
• Q2 2014 will be an important quarter for Xiaomi if it can maintain the momentum in its home market as its shift focus towards international expansion
• China market is on the brink of price-war as OEMs will race to bring both cheapest TD-SCDMA and cheaper LTE phones to the market starting this June.

Buy 

New 1 Piece/Original Xiaomi Mi 3 Mobile Phone 5"IPS 1920x1080 2GRAM 16GROM 64G Quad Core2.3G Android 4.2 13.1MP.

Q1 2014: LG report improved. To hold conferences call on April 29 and 30.

Francisco De Jesùs.

LG have improved its TV sales results with a slightly 3% up from same period last year, hoping to improve much more this Q2 2014 now that LG have launched New TV models powered with webOS as well, smartphones is more significant with a 19% increase.

In Home appliances doing not so well and in Air conditioning reports  strong sales.

LG finally projected  for this year end profits in the smartphone sector. The TV sector I expect at least a conservative 7% to a high 10% level with WebOS in and better results in 2015.

Just hoping like everyone here , LG give us a surprise in the mobile sector with a powered WebOS slate smartphone or phatablet at CES 2015.

LG Electronics will hold a Korean language earnings conference on April 29, 2014 at 16:00 Korea Standard Time at the LG Twin Tower Auditorium (B1 East Tower, 20 Yeoui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea). An English language conference call will follow the next day on April 30, 2014 at 10:00 Korea Standard Time (01:00 GMT/UTC).

Press Release:

LG REPORTS IMPROVED FIRST-QUARTER 2014 RESULTS

Net Profit Increases More than 300 Percent from Same Period Last Year

SEOUL, Apr. 29, 2014 — LG Electronics Inc. (LG) today announced a 319 percent increase in first-quarter net profit compared with the same period last year. First-quarter 2014 net profit rose to KRW 92.60 billion (USD 86.62 million) while operating profit of KRW 504billion (USD 471.47million) marked a significant improvement from the previous quarter due to improved profitability from the LG Home Entertainment Company. Unaudited first quarter consolidated revenues of KRW 14.27 trillion (USD 13.35 billion) increased 1.2 percent compared to the same quarter in 2013.

The LG Home Entertainment Company reported first-quarter revenues of KRW 4.95 trillion (USD 4.63 billion), a 3 percent increase from the first quarter a year ago.Operating profit of KRW 240.30 billion (USD 224.79 million) exceeded expectations due to stronger sales of larger-sized TVs and better cost structure resulting from declining material prices. Revenues are expected to increase in the second quarter with new model launches. LG will continue to diversity its premium Ultra HD TV and OLED TV lineup with more sizes and price levels to offset greater competition.

The LG Mobile Communications Company shipped 12.3 million smartphones in the first quarter — comprising 75 percent of all phones shipped — an increase of 19 percent from the same period the previous year. LG’s shipment of 5 million LTE smartphones was the most ever in a single quarter, an increase of 79 percent year-over-year, accounting for 41 percent of all smartphone shipments in the quarter compared to 27 percent for all of 2013. Revenues of KRW 3.41 trillion (USD 3.19 billion) increased 6 percent year-on-year and operating profit margins rose quarter-on-quarter due to the launch of G Pro 2 in the domestic market and more efficient marketing spending. Higher revenues are expected in the second quarter with the release of the flagship LG G3 smartphone and wider roll-out of the mass-tier L Series III.

The LG Home Appliance Company posted strong sales in the Korean market but first-quarter revenue of KRW 2.72 trillion (USD 2.54 billion) was lower year-over-year due to greater competition in North America and unfavorable foreign currency exchange movement in developing markets. Improved cost structure resulted in first-quarter operating profit of KRW 109.20 billion (USD 102.15 million) and a profit margin of 4 percent. Going forward, LG expects revenues for home appliances to increase with the launch of market leading washing machine and refrigerator products.

The LG Air Conditioning & Energy Solution Company reported strong sales of commercial air conditioners in overseas markets with revenues of KRW 1.22 trillion (USD 1.14 billion) in the first quarter and operating profit of KRW 89.8 billion (USD 84 million), an increase of nearly 10 percent from the same period last year. LG expects both revenue and profitability to improve with a greater portion of sales from commercial air conditioners and increasing demand for new products such as dehumidifiers and air purifiers in Korea.

20141Q Exchange Rates Explained

LG Electronics’ unaudited quarterly earnings results are based on IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending March 31, 2014. Amounts in Korean won (KRW) are translated into U.S. dollars (USD) at the average rate of the three-month period of the corresponding quarter — KRW 1,069 per USD (20141Q).

Earnings Conference and Conference Call

LG Electronics will hold a Korean language earnings conference on April 29, 2014 at 16:00 Korea Standard Time at the LG Twin Tower Auditorium (B1 East Tower, 20 Yeoui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea). An English language conference call will follow the next day on April 30, 2014 at 10:00 Korea Standard Time (01:00 GMT/UTC). Participants are instructed to call +82 31 810 3069 and enter the passcode 9084#. The corresponding presentation file will be available for download at the LG Electronics website (www.lg.com/global/ir/reports/earning-release.jsp) at 14:00 on April 29, 2014. Please visit http://pin.teletogether.com/eng/ and pre-register with the passcode provided. For those unable to participate, an audio recording of the news conference will be available for a period of 30 days after the conclusion of the call. To access the recording, dial +82 31 931 3100 and enter the passcode 142730# when prompted.

LG