Apple Becomes No.1 Smartphone Vendor; Samsung Surges and Nokia Slumps
Apple took the top spot in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2011 as the iPhone maker posted record shipments, while Nokia, the former leader, dropped to the third place in the face of declining demand and sales, research company IDC said.
According to IDC's latest quarterly report, Apple shipped 20.3 million units during the three-month period, up from 18.7 million in the first quarter and 8.4 million a year earlier. That brought the iPhone maker, who ranked No.3 with a 13.0 percent share last year, up to No.1 with a 19.1 percent share. Given the momentum Apple is riding, it would be a matter of time before it surpasses Nokia's quarterly mark of 28.1 million units, IDC added. And with the iPhone 5 coming this fall, the company will very likely maintain its strong sales for the second half of the year.
Samsung made the biggest leap among all vendors, as it jumped from No.4 to the No.2 spot in just three months, holding a 16.2 percent market share at the moment. The Korean company showed a tremendous year-over-year growth of 380.6 percent by shipping 17.3 million devices during Q2 2011, compared to merely 3.6 million a year ago. The strong number was mainly contributed by its popular Android-based Galaxy S smartphones, which sold 3 million units worldwide within two months.
Handing its leadership over to Apple, Nokia slipped to the third place with major slumps in both sales and market share. Currently in the midst of transition from its Symbian platform to Windows Phone and MeeGo, the Finnish company saw a 30.4 percent drop in shipments from last year's 24.0 million units to 16.7 million units. Its market share also shrank significantly from 37.3 percent to 15.7 percent. IDC's analysts anticipated that the phone maker will likely continue to struggle throughout 2011 and 2012.
Following behind Nokia is Research In Motion, who dropped from the third to the fourth during the April-to-June period. Although the Canadian smartphone maker posted a 10.7 percent year-over-year increase in sales volume (from 11.2 million to 12.4 million units), its market share dipped from 17.4 percent to 11.6 percent. IDC noted that demand for BlackBerry devices remained healthy in the face of competition, but the company must refresh and update its high-end enterprise-grade lineup in order to stay competitive in the long term.
HTC remained the fifth, yet it witnessed the second biggest growth in sales (a rate of 165.9 percent) among all vendors. With 11.7 million units sold during the quarter, the Taiwanese company now commands 11.0 percent of the market, trailing closely behind Research In Motion. It has a good chance of reaching its sales goals of 13 million units for the next quarter and 50 million units for the year, according to IDC.
Overall, the smartphone segment enjoyed strong growth in the first half of 2011, and will probably maintain its upward movement for the rest of the year as more flagship models are expected to arrive.
Tags: Apple iPhone and iPad Accessories, Samsung Accessories, Nokia Accessories, BlackBerry Accessories, HTC Accessories, Motorola Accessories, LG Accessories
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