According to Strategy Analytics's shipping figures for the first quarter of the year, published Tuesday, a massive 285 million handsets shipped -- up 33 percent on the same period last year -- and most of the growth is thanks to continuing demand for smartphones in Asia. Yet, despite this growth, Samsung saw its market share drop from 32 percent to 31 percent while Lenovo -- the company that is in the process of acquiring Motorola -- saw its share jump from 4 percent to 5 percent. If Strategy Analytics' figures are considered in isolation, Samsung's dip in form is the first that it has experienced since 2009 and the research and analytics firm puts the loss down to increased competition at both ends of the market. At the entry level Lenovo and fellow Chinese firm Huawei are proving that they can not only hold their own but that they can make handsets that consumers beyond Asia find appealing.



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