Skip to main content

Samsung unseats Nokia in home market of Finland, says IDC

Samsung unseats Nokia in home market of Finland, says IDC

Share this story

samsung nokia stock
samsung nokia stock

Nokia is no longer the top mobile phone seller in its domestic market, according to figures from IDC: Samsung has taken the top spot with 36.1 percent of market share in Finland, squeezing its rival into second place with 33.6 percent. The South Korean manufacturer shipped 211,000 devices in the country in the first quarter of this year, said the research firm, next to 196,000 from Nokia.

This marks a stark change from IDC's research a year ago, when Nokia commanded a 48 percent share to Samsung's 28 percent. In 2010, Nokia's share was 65 percent. The new statistics were first reported by Finnish site Digitoday and later provided to the Wall Street Journal.

IDC says 80 percent of Samsung's sales are smartphones

A research director at IDC told the WSJ that while Nokia's sales are split about evenly between smartphones and "more basic" phones, around 80 percent of units moved by Samsung are smartphones. However, Nokia continues to introduce low-end devices, such as the Asha 501, that bridge the gap between smartphones and feature phones, meaning the distinction may not be quite so clear. Nokia said that Asha devices "blur the lines" as early as 2011, and now describes the Asha 501 as a smartphone outright. The company recorded record sales for its range of Lumia smartphones in Q1, but has struggled to break into important markets such as the US.

The news comes just over a year after a separate research firm reported that Samsung had overtaken Nokia in global shipments. Samsung appears to be focusing further efforts on Finland, however, with a representative confirming to Engadget that a new research facility is set to open in Nokia's hometown of Espoo on June 13th.