Chinese handset makers to take on Apple and Samsung at mobile fair
Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo to use mobile fair, lower prices to chip away at pair's dominance
Chinese handset makers will lead an onslaught on smartphone titans Samsung and Apple when the world's biggest mobile fair opens today in Barcelona.
Offering big-screen, slick, slim smartphones at lower prices, Chinese manufacturers Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo will leverage the Mobile World Congress to chip away at the mighty duopoly, analysts say.
The handset battle is part of a broader revolt against a handful of companies with a stranglehold on the booming industry's handsets, operating systems and microchips, they say. Apple, as usual, is steering clear of the February 25-28 congress that draws 1,500 exhibitors to this Mediterranean city in northeastern Spain, and Samsung is not expected to launch its next big offer, the Galaxy S4, until after the show.
That may leave the field clear for rivals to tout their ambitions for a slice of the smartphone market, which is set to grow to a record one billion handset shipments in 2013, according to a forecast by global consultancy Deloitte.
"I think we will see challengers trying to make a noise at the Mobile World Congress this year," said Ian Fogg, the senior mobile analyst at research house IHS.
New players face a daunting task, though.
Samsung and Apple accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales in the final quarter of last year - 29 per cent for Samsung and 22.1 per cent for Apple - according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Behind Samsung and Apple, however, Chinese firms held the third, fourth and fifth spots, with 5.3 per cent for Huawei, 4.7 per cent for ZTE, and 4.4 per cent for Lenovo.
