by BERNAMA / pic by TMR FILE

SEOUL – 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, reported Yonhap.

The South Korean tech giant accounted for 42.4 per cent of smartphone shipments in Latin America in the January-March period, up from 37.9 per cent 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 US phone maker Motorola Inc. with 21.8 per cent and China’s Xiaomi Corp. with 8.4 per cent.

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 per cent market share.

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

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

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