Samsung has lost huge market share to Apple. (Photo : Reuters)
Samsung is currently in a bad position after Apple launched its bigger-sized iPhones, the 6 and the 6 Plus.
The decline in Samsung's profits and market share were most evident in China, which is the world's largest market for smartphones. Losing out in the battle in this crucial market is a huge blow to the South Korean company.
According to Samsung, its profits in the last quarter 2014 significantly declined. The improvement in its semiconductor business did nothing to alleviate the blow to its mobile business.
Samsung's decline was most dramatic in China, which serves as the key reason why the company's share of global smartphone sales observably tanked. From having one-third share of the global smarpthone sales in 2013, the company now has one-quarter.
Samsung's reversal in performance can be attributed to Apple's bigger screens as well as more visible presence in China. Apple recently launched several glitzy stores in China, boosting its sales by 70 pecent.
Samsung's main edge with its high-end phones over the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was that it has big-sized screens for users who prefer their phones that way, but the edge is now gone. Samsung's low-end phones, on the other hand, had to contend with fierce competition from China's Xiaomi.
In fact, in the second quarter of last year, local company Xiaomi already overtook Samsung when it comes to being the biggest selling smartphone maker in China.
With Apple's new phones, according to Ben Bajaran, an analyst from Silicon Valley, Samsung is literally left with no edge now, whether it be on the low end or the high end.
