The shares of South Korean electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94), fell 7.5 percent, eliminating approximately $12 billion from its market value, after it lost the patent war to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in California court on August 24. The jury found that Samsung has violated six of seven Apple patents, and Samsung has to pay $1.05 billion to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), for infringing its patents.
Investors fear that a ban on the US sales of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) smartphones may badly hit the Samsung sales. The United States is the third largest market for Samsung, after Asia Pacific and Europe, contributing approximately 16 percent of its total sales. Judge Lucy Koh has scheduled a hearing on September 20 to consider Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s, request in which Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) devices should be banned permanently in the US.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) is not the only company losing stock prices, the other Android players are also witnessing the same trend. For example, the stock of ZTE, the largest Chinese smartphone maker, declined 7.1 percent in Hong Kong trading. The Taiwanese rival of Samsung and another Android-phone maker, HTC plunged another 1.9 percent in Taipei trading. HTC Corp (TPE:2498) is already down 47 percent since the beginning of 2012. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), has targeted a number of HTC devices before International Trade Commission, for infringing its patents.
“In general, it seems the Android camp is losing the patent wars,” says Dennis Chan, analyst at Yuanta Securities. However, there may be some opportunity for Chinese smartphone makers. If Some of the Samsung phones are banned, people are definitely going to buy from Chinese vendors. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), is focusing on the high-end market and fighting the bigger threats, like Samsung and HTC Corp (TPE:2498), while Chinese makers are confined to lower or mid-end market.
On the other hand, the non-Android smartphone makers have gained, riding on the hopes that a setback to Samsung will be beneficial for them. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), which makes smartphones running on Windows Phone, jumped as much as 11 percent today in Helsinki trading. Forbes expects Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) share prices to rise as its smartphone OS, Windows Phone, may gain market share.
