[nabil114]

Two earnings previews from Asian cell phone manufacturers on Friday showed that Apple's not the only top-tier smartphone company with something to worry about.
Samsung and HTC's second-quarter outlooks both disappointed financial analysts, who had largely expected their latest high-end devices to launch the companies to new heights. Although Samsung's Galaxy S4 and HTC's One have sold well so far, neither company met analysts' forecasts for sales or profit.

That's particularly troubling, since several smartphone industry forecasts have indicated that interest in Samsung and HTC's best smartphones has likely peaked.
Shares of Samsung fell 4% on Friday, while HTC's shares rose 1%.
South Korea-based Samsung said it would report operating profit of $8.1 billion to $8.5 billion for the three months ended June -- which works out to a minimum increase of 44% over the same period last year. Sales were also higher than last year, rising a minimum of 18% to around $50 billion.
That marked the company's best-ever earnings guidance for the second quarter -- but it still fell short of analyst expectations.
Though analysts say HTC's One has sold admirably, it didn't stop HTC from continuing its downward spiral. The Taiwanese company said its second-quarter profit would come in at around $42 million, down 83% from a year earlier. HTC reported sales would be $2.35 billion, down 22%.
Related: Want to invest in Samsung? Good luck!
Samsung shares have lost around 12% this year, and HTC's stock has fallen 37%.
The tale is a familiar one. Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhones have also been selling well, but growth has slowed and investors have punished the stock lately. BlackBerry has also struggled to gain traction with its new Z10 smartphone, and its stock has plummeted.
Apple shares have lost 21% of their value since January 1, while BlackBerry (BBRY) has lost 19% and fallen below $10 per share.
Now that Samsung and HTC, two of Apple's biggest rivals, are mirroring that trend, industry analysts believe that the top tier of the market is becoming saturated.
Apple is rumored to be creating a lower-end version of its smartphone to expand its share and better compete with No. 1 Samsung, whose phones run on the Android operating system from Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).
Samsung is scheduled to deliver full results for the second quarter at the end of July.

Samsung earnings fail to impress - Jul. 5, 2013

[Plazmic Flame]

Well, this is to be expected. Smartphones were the next great leap after regular cell phones became so widespread. Now we wait for the next big boom for devices which might be wearables (smartwatches / Google Glass) but I doubt it... smartwatches might take off if someone can get the battery life right but battery tech has been dragging it's feet so I'm doubtful.

But if it's not wearables, then what? Controlling stuff with our minds isn't even at the stage yet to be a marketable product so, outside of that, I can't think of anything else...

[Aljean Thein]

I believe it's just cause people are still in their contracts. This year the phone purchase might be lower but next year I'm sure it'll boost up again.

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[SteveBB10]

This is normal in every industry things will sell really well and then they will cool down for a bit and eventually pick up again. Right now it looks like the same is happening to smart phones.

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[Linda9600]

Not surprised. Apple and Samsung boomed because everyone was getting their first smartphone. Now, everyone already has one. When smartphones were new, there was the existing upgrades plus first-time buyers that boosted sales, but now, what's left are the upgrades and much fewer first-time buyers.

I hope whatever industry BlackBerry wants to enter that they'll develop and release quickly. Thet can't hope that the smartphone industry will keep them alfloat. They are notoriously slow to grt anything released, i.e. available for purchase.

I am surprised though that even the mighty Apple and Samsung did not meet investors' expectations. As for market saturation, they know this and is why they are making a watch and are trying to enter the emerging markets worldwide.

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[o4liberty]

For the last 5 years the market has been flooded with smart phones. There is a small trend of users going back to dumb phones for several reasons like the economy for one and some are sick and tired of getting a device that doesn't work right and are stuck with it for 2 years.

Not everyone has the patience to load new updates or leaked OS's into their devices.

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