Established in 1983, Samsung's Mobile division began by producing phones for automobiles. After poor sales, due largely to its inferior call quality, the company poured significant investment into a two-year R&D period. What emerged was its first mobile phone, the SH-100.
But sales were lukewarm, to say the least, and after shipping just 1,000 to 2,000 units, Samsung in 1988 decided to tackle its connectivity and call quality problems. As a result, it patented a new way to improve reception by using gold to connect the antenna to its communication circuits -- reducing the noise for a steadier signal.
Realizing the significance of mobile phones, then-chairman Ki Tae Lee poured its efforts and resources into rivaling Motorola's success by 1994, declaring it would succeed or completely exit the business.
The 1990s was a decade of innovation and growth for Samsung. And by 1996, Samsung developed its first CDMA device, coinciding with the launch of the PCS service in U.S. By the end of 1997, Samsung had obtained 57 percent market share in the CDMA market, selling over a million units.
Having dominated the CDMA sector, Samsung next turned its attention to the larger GSM market. While its next model, the SGH-200, failed to gain ground in Europe due to its complex designs, in 1998, the company streamlined its form and introduced the high-end SGH-600.
From 2000 to 2003, Samsung posted higher and higher earnings amid a time of unprecedented crisis -- the beginning of its meteoric rise. In 2005, it overtook Japanese rival Sony, and a year later, became the world's second-largest phone maker.
Then in 2009, Samsung teamed up with Google to produce a line of Android smartphones, dubbed the Galaxy series. Blanketing the market with variants, each with different features and price points, Samsung further expanded its market share by largely capturing the low and mid-tier market, sectors Apple largely ignored with its high-end iPhone.
Much of Samsung's success has been attributed to its vertical integration -- it makes many of the components in smartphones, such as touch panels and memory chips.
Samsung then launched its attack on Apple, releasing the Galaxy S2 its first true iPhone contender, both in terms of features as well as market share. And by 2012, it surpassed Nokia to become the largest phone maker in the world -- selling 93.5 million units worldwide.
