ChannelLife New Zealand - Industry insider news for technology resellers
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Tue, 12th Mar 2013
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Samsung has claimed the top smartphone spot in the world's largest market, after shifting 30.06m products in China during 2012.

The South Korean company, set to unveil the Samsung Galaxy S4 this Friday, fended off challenges from Nokia, Lenovo, Apple and Huawei to lead the industry according to market researcher Strategy Analytics.

Representing a 17.7% market share, Samsung becomes the most popular smartphone seller for the first time in the country, selling nearly 20m more products than 2011 during the past twelve months.

Previous leader Nokia saw it's marketshare plummet, failing from first spot to seventh, with Chinese firm Lenovo taking second place.

Apple followed in third, trailed by China's Huawei Technologies in fourth.

But in a week that threatens to be all about Samsung, the company should not rest on it's laurels just yet.

Recent reports also showed the company still lagged behind Apple during the fourth quarter of last year, mainly due to the strong demand for the newly released iPhone 5.

Lenovo also displayed it's "aspiration" to overtake Samsung as China's top smartphone maker, meaning the lead could be short-lived unless the Galaxy S4 explodes into life this coming Friday.

Can Samsung hold onto it's lead in the market? Will the Galaxy S4 help achieve this? Tell us your thoughts below