Smartphone wave

When it comes to smartphones, the world remembers two giants - Apple and Samsung. But analysts say that buyers are more willing to look at alternatives because the difference among smartphones are less pronounced these days. Some of the companies that are trying to make a comeback in smartphone market are the familiar names - Sony, Nokia and HTC. Individually, none of these companies pose a threat to the top two. However, collectively the three companies have showed an excellent growth over the past years. The proportion of phones running Google's Android system keeps rising and technical specifications are converging.Chinese smartphone makers have an edge and this is an increasingly important selling point. What happens in China is also important because success there help smaller companies develop the strength to move into emerging markets around the globe. While most smartphones are made in China, Chinese handset makers have so far struggled to export phones under their own brand. So if Samsung and Apple does not maintain a strong position in China, other players, mostly Chinese players, will do that instead, and then use that as a springboard to attack them in other markets. However the smartphone market is still a rising tide waiting to lift many other smartphone vendors across the globe.