Why Apple Can't Keep Up With the Smartphone Market

By Evan Niu, CFA, Eric Bleeker, and Chris Hill – Jul 30, 2013 at 6:30PM

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The smartphone market is growing too fast for the biggest players to keep up. Apple and Samsung continue to gobble up nearly half of the market, which makes it challenging to keep up with overall growth from the low-end and mid-range segments.

The global smartphone market just exploded by 52% to 237.9 million units in the second quarter, according to the most recent figures from IDC. Apple (AAPL -1.22%) and Samsung still dominate the overall landscape, but smaller players like LG and Lenovo are gaining traction as they grow volumes off of small bases. Technically, both Apple and Samsung "underperformed" the broader market in terms of unit growth.

In the following video, Evan Niu, CFA, and Eric Bleeker, CFA, discuss the broader context of the smartphone market and where investors should really focus to assess how Apple's faring.

The relevant segment can be found between 8:40 and 11:50.

Chris Hill has no position in any stocks mentioned. Eric Bleeker, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.