Samsung expands presence in Latin America smartphone market in Q1: report

Samsung Electronics Co. further strengthened its top position in the Latin America smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, with the launch of new models and aggressive marketing.

The South Korean tech giant accounted for 42.4 percent of smartphone shipments in Latin America in the January-March period, up from 37.9 percent a year ago, according to the latest report from market researcher Counterpoint Research.

“It started 2021 by renewing part of its A-series portfolio,” Counterpoint Research said. “It also advertised heavily during the launch of new flagship models — Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S21 Ultra — in February. This drove higher sales for all the other lines from this brand.”

Samsung was followed by U.S. phone maker Motorola Inc. with 21.8 percent and China’s Xiaomi Corp. with 8.4 percent.

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc., which announced its exit from the mobile business by the end of July, was ranked as the fourth-largest vendor with a 5.8 percent market share.

The report showed smartphone shipments in Latin America surged by 22.2 percent on-year in the first quarter.

Among major countries, Argentina saw the biggest on-year growth with 113 percent, followed by Peru with 51 percent.

“The competition fueled by Samsung and Motorola launching refreshed models and new Chinese OEMs entering the region drove the market growth,” it added.