Sony, Huawei Battling for No. 3 Spot in Smartphone Market - PC Magazine

March 4, 2013 10:07pm EST With Apple and Samsung holding a firm grasp on the top two spots of the smartphone market, the battle for third place is heating up. Tech giant Sony has its sights set on beating out competitors like Huawei Technology and ZTE to take the No. 3 spot in the global smartphone market, Reuters reported, citing Kunimasa Suzuki, head of Sony's mobile business. The Sony executive told reporters during a roundtable briefing that the Japanese company will "alter smartphone development" for each market, and may produce cheaper models for developing nations. Sony isn't the only one vying for the third spot, however. Chinese tech giant Huawei, while not a very recognizable name to most in North America, is actually the company to beat at No. 3. During the final quarter of 2012, Sony was ranked fourth in the global smartphone market by research firm IDC. Sony nabbed 4.5 percent market share, while rival Huawei took the third spot with 4.9 percent, and ZTE nabbed fifth place with 4.3 percent. Last month, meanwhile, Gartner also reported that Huawei saw a nice boost during the fourth quarter, reaching No. 3 on the list of top smartphone makers for the first time. In 2012 overall, Huawei sold 27.2 million smartphones, up 73.8 percent from the year before. At this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Huawei introduced a new high-end model, the Ascend P2, which it called the "world's fastest smartphone." The company made no secret that it's looking to challenge Apple and Samsung in the mobile phone market. "If you look back five years ago, Apple is small, Samsung is not so big," said Wan Biao, chief executive of Huawei Devices, according to The Telegraph. "You can't see where we'll be in five years. At least top three. Maybe number one." via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFx5APaq5KxeJQzlu7wfjfqcs7GQQ&url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416176,00.asp

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