Samsung Takes Lead in Touchscreen Phones

Samsung once again showed its leading position in the fastest growing segment of the industry by announcing the sale of its 50 millionth full touchscreen phone. According to the company, it will easily beat its sales forecast of 200 million handsets for 2009, partly due to strong sales of its touchscreen devices.

The South Korean cell phone manufacturer said -they have sold around 40 million units of touchscreen-enabled handsets worldwide so far this year, a dramatic increase compared to the 10 million shipments in 2008. For the whole year, it expects its touchscreen devices to account for approximately 20 percent of all handsets sold, representing a fourfold boost from the year-ago percentage.

The remarkable growth in the full touch device category amid overall handset market contraction proves its great potential. Samsung sees the robust multimedia features and intuitive user interfaces that the touchscreen-enabled handsets put at consumers’ fingertips as their main attractions.

In fact, the proportion of smartphones with a touchscreen display has jumped to 45 percent in the third quarter of 2009 from 31 percent a year ago, according to Canalys. Other than Samsung, companies like LG, Apple, HTC, Research in Motion and Motorola are also busy throwing themselves into the business.

To accelerate the adoption of its full touch phones, Samsung has been diversifying its lineup from entry-level to high-end devices over the past two years. Some of its most popular phones including the Star S5230, the vendor’s fastest selling model with 10 million units sold since its launch in May; the F480, which has sold 9 million units since May 2008; and the Corby S3650, with 3 million shipments after only two months of its debut this September.

"Samsung will continue to expand the global full touch phone market by introducing phones tailored to individual regions and user requirement with stylish designs, intuitive user interfaces and cutting edge features," said JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Samsung Electronics' Mobile Communications Division.

With the holiday season just started, it seems that the boom of Samsung’s touchscreen phones is not going to slow down anytime soon.

Tags: Samsung Accessories, LG Accessories, iPhone Accessories, HTC Accessories, BlackBerry Accessories, Motorola Accessories