The loss of market share for both Samsung and Apple points very clearly to the fact that the smartphones has clearly entered the era of commodification. There are many implications for both companies

Bloody battlefield in emerging markets and continued fragmentation of market
In advanced economies, everyone who wants a smartphone already owns one. The emerging market is where the next battlefield will be. No everyone will be able to afford an Apple or Samsung but the emerging middle class in emerging markets will want smartphones of their own.

Nobody is wasting any time on this - So everyone already fighting for a foothold.

It will be interesting to see if Tim Cook bows to pressure to come up with "low-cost" Apple phone for emerging markets that goes against the grain Apple's long-held strategy of releasing only premium products (I am sure most people agree with me that Iphone 5c was a very blotched attempt - the phone wasn't "cheap" and most people who could afford an Iphone 5c would have bought an 5s for its superior features).

In China, companies like Xiaomi and Oneplus are already trying to eat Apple's and Samsung's lunch. We will continue to see fragmentation of the market and continued erosion of market share of Apple/Samsung. Overall it's great news for consumers when it comes to consumer choice (possibly means lower prices and intensification of innovation)


Continuation of the proxy war between (Google) Android and (Apple) iOS and it's importance
With Samsung's 63% or more share of Android, it's clear that this is clearly a proxy war between Andriod and iOS to be the dominant mobile operating system of the phone in people's pocket.

Why is this war so important?

Not too long ago, whomever owned the content won until Apple figured out that whomever owned the customer relationship that could deliver that content won - App Store/iTunes is a very good example ($10 billion is close to GDP of Mongolia)

Both Google and Apple have an eye is clearly going to be the next biggest differentiator in the mobile phone business - Mobile payments.

Apple already owns 800 million credit cards on file through the App Store. Imagine if one could walk into NTUC, authorise the purchase with your mobile phone (and still earn rewards points on your credit card) and they just take a cut of that purchase... (or they could negotiate their own merchant discount rate with the bank...)

This relationship is also key in helping marketers piece together information between online digital behaviour and physical behaviour. Marketers would like know if a purchase in a store was linked to a earlier web search, or a click on banner ad, or location-based promotions etc.