Taipei, May 15 (CNA) Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, the world's largest mobile phone maker by volume, said Tuesday that it will remain the top smartphone vendor in Taiwan in the second quarter of this year, thanks to booming demand for its new flagship models.

The electronics giant said it took 29 percent of the total smartphone market in Taiwan in the first quarter of this year, with sales of its high-end Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note smartphones exceeding 350,000 and 130,000 units, respectively, as of March.

"We hope this share will exceed 30 percent in the second quarter," Andy Tu, general manager of Samsung Taiwan's mobile communication team, said at a press conference to launch the company's next-generation Galaxy S III.

The 4.8-inch Galaxy S III, powered by a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and an 8-megapixel rear camera, will hit store shelves in June through four Taiwanese telecom operators and 240 retail stores.

A 16GB model will start at NT$20,900 (US$709), while a 32GB model will be priced at NT$22,900 when it goes on sale in July.

In February, Samsung forecast that it expects to sell 380 million handsets worldwide in 2012, up 27 percent from the record 300 million units shipped last year.

"Our handset sales growth in Taiwan will be higher than this ratio," said Tu, who declined to give any specific figures.

He said the higher growth forecast is based on the continued expansion of Taiwan's mobile phone market, as total mobile phone shipments were 10 percent higher in the first four months of this year than those of the same period of 2011.

The other reason is that higher-priced models still account for 30 to 40 percent of current total mobile phone sales, increasing the output value of the local mobile market as well as driving shipments of Samsung's high-end product lines, Tu added.

(By Jeffrey Wu)
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