As there is still limited research on brand equity and brand impact in a high tech industry as the smartphone industry, this study focused on highlighting brand equity and brand relevance in the Swedish smartphone market. The aim was to increase knowledge about the discussion of brand equity from a consumer perspective on the smartphone market by finding out what significance the brand had for the consumers in the purchase of a smartphone and how strong brand equity the brands, Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG and Huawei had in the Swedish smartphone market. To address the research questions, a survey was done as data collection. Questionnaires were distributed to 120 respondents consisting of students in the Stockholm area, from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Södertörn University. The survey in question was formed almost entirely out of David A. Aaker's concept of brand equity, which consists of brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and brand loyalty. The study found two clusters of smartphone manufacturers with different brand strength based of brand equity. The first cluster consisted of the brands Apple and Samsung, both of which had higher brand equity in relation to the remaining brands. The remaining brands HTC, LG and Huawei formed the second cluster, in which Huawei deviated in a bit in strengthfrom the two aforementioned brands. The study also found that the brand was of high significance for consumers when buying a smartphone. / Då det fortfarande är begränsad forskning om varumärkeskapital och varumärkets betydelse i en högteknologisk bransch som smartphonebranschen har denna studie fokuserat på att belysa varumärkeskapitalet och varumärkets betydelse på den svenska smartphonemarknaden. Syftet var att utöka kunskapen kring diskussionen om varumärkeskapital från ett konsumentperspektiv på smartphonemarknaden genom att ta reda på vad varumärket hade för betydelse för studenter vid köp av en smartphone och hur starkt varumärkeskapital varumärkena Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG och Huawei hade på den svenska smartphonemarknaden. För att angripa forskningsfrågorna gjordes en enkätundersökning som empiriinsamling. Enkäter delades ut till 120 respondenter som bestod av studenter i Stockholmsområdet från Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholms Universitet samt Södertörns högskola. Enkäten i fråga formades nästintill helt utifrån David A. Aakers koncept om varumärkeskapital, vilket utgörs av varumärkeskännedom, upplevd kvalité, varumärkesassociationer och varumärkeslojalitet. Studien kom fram till två kluster av smartphonetillverkare med olika varumärkesstyrkor baserat på varumärkeskapitalet. Det första klustret utgjordes av varumärkena Apple och Samsung som hade högre varumärkeskapital i relation till resterande varumärken. De resterande varumärkena HTC, LG och Huawei utgjorde det ena klustret där Huawei hade en något avvikande varumärkesstyrka från de två förstnämnda i klustret. I studien framkom det även att varumärket hade en stor betydelseför studenterna vid ett köp av en smartphone

The graduation thesis "Trends in mobile phones development" is focusing principally on detailed analysis of mobile phone market on a global scale. The aim of this thesis is to elaborate comprehensive analysis of mobile phone market oriented on phones with operating systems (smartphones). The analysis is drawn primarily from the perspective of the key players in the market and comparison of these manufactures. After the descriptive part, where is introduced market as a whole, market segmentation by volume and value, this section focuses on segmentation of the global market by key players. This descriptive part is completed by market segmentation according to the amount of mobile phones sold by key players. Second analysis is segmented by operating system. Following parts of the thesis is more practical. This part of the thesis is analyzing the companies, which are selling smartphones. In this part I started by describing a brief overview about what the market is, what is focusing on and what their advantages and pitfalls are. My focus is analyzing the market via Porter's analysis and SWOT analysis of individual manufactures. Finally, I analyze the financial indicators from year 2007 to present. In conclusion I come to recommendations what manufactures should and should not to do. Chapter with warnings is described by the products on the market, which failed in recent years. At very end I come to the evaluation and recommendations, which theoretically should bring some positive progress to companies. The main contribution of this thesis is to provide comprehensive, detailed analysis of the market of mobile phones and smartphones manufactures on a global scale. One of the benefits is the collection of information, data and analysis describing the current state of the market, but also recommendations practices, to which I reached via progression of the this work. Thanks to unique appreciation of the global mobile phone market, their indicators and strategic information, it is necessary to say that this thesis can be very valuable material for some readers, who want to get overview, or seek accurate information about certain manufacture.