Samsung Elec. to seize 70 pct share of S. Korea’s mobile market in July

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will clinch more than a 70 percent share of the Korean mobile phone market within July, for the first time ever.

Samsung clinched a 66 percent share of the Korean mobile market in the first half (H1) of the year, which is a 13 percentage point spike from its average low-50 percent share for the past three years, said a source within the company Sunday. Samsung sales has been gaining pace recently, especially with the release of its latest smartphone hit Galaxy S III which sold more than 50,000 units in the very first day of release.

“We will soon be logging a 70 percent share in the mobile market thanks to our lead in smartphone sales,” said a high-ranking Samsung official. “We already accounted for a 69 percent share of the LTE phone market in H1.”

Samsung Electronics took a 51.2 percent share of the market in 2009, which grew steadily to 52.6 percent share in 2010 and 52.7 percent share in 2011, according to sources from within the company. However, its decision to invest heavily in LTE smartphones and the release of hit series Galaxy S II HD LTE and Galaxy Note helped the Korean phonemaker dominate its home ground market. Samsung is expected to keep its lead in the Korean market this year, which is estimated to see phone sales of 25 million units.

“Samsung Electronics has been honing its competitiveness in the high-end smartphone market through flagship models Galaxy and Galaxy Note. It will continue to release high-margin premium products in H2 to expand its shares,” said an expert.

In contrast, foreign phone makers in the likes of HTC, Sony, Nokia, and Motorola have failed to release a single new product on fears of making further losses. “Foreign phone makers take less than three percent of the domestic market share, each. As a result, main phone carriers are not even paying much heed to these brands unless they have high potential products that could become bestsellers,” said an expert.