South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is still the preferred smartphone brand in the nation, despite its declining market share, a local survey showed yesterday.
The poll by the state-funded Institute for Information Industry (資策會) found that 13.55 million Taiwanese aged over 12 had a smartphone in the second half of the year, representing 65.4 percent of Taiwan’s 12-and-over population.
That was up from a smartphone penetration rate of 58.7 percent during the first half of this year.
Among the smartphone users surveyed, 24.2 percent had a Samsung smartphone, 22.1 percent owned an HTC Corp (宏達電) smartphone and 17.3 percent were using an Apple Inc iPhone, the survey showed.
SLIGHT CHANGES
However, in the first half, the three top brands had higher shares, with Samsung at 26.4 percent, HTC at 23.8 percent and Apple at 19 percent, the survey found.
Japan’s Sony Corp ranked fourth in the second half of the year, when its market share increased from 10.8 percent to 14.4 percent.
Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp (小米) was fifth, with a 5.3 percent share, up 0.5 percentage points from the first half of the year, followed by domestic vendor AsusTek Computer Inc (華碩), which saw its share rise from 2.3 percent to 4.2 percent.
The institute also released data showing that a total of 14.32 million people in Taiwan over the age of 12 own smartphones or tablet computers, representing a 70 percent penetration rate in the demographic.
PENETRATION
With such significant market penetration, the information and communication technology development research group predicted that the domestic market for smart devices will become saturated by 2016.
The survey also found that the number of people owning smart devices increased by 1.01 million over the past six months.
Of the 14.32 million people with smart devices, 5.32 million own both a smartphone and a tablet, survey data showed.
The survey was conducted between Oct. 4 and Oct. 31, and it collected 1,068 valid samples among people 12 years of age and older.
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