Lokapele blog

Apple Is Closing in on Nokia's Global Smartphone Lead

Smartphones are still selling in record numbers. Vendors shipped 100.9 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. That's up 87.2 percent from the 53.9 million smartphones sold in the year-ago period.

The numbers are almost as dramatic for the whole of 2010, during which vendors shipped a total of 302.6 million smartphones worldwide, up 74.4 percent from 173.5 million in 2009.

"Android continues to gain by leaps and bounds, helping to drive the smartphone market," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. "It has become the cornerstone of multiple vendors' smartphone strategies, and has quickly become a challenger to market leader Symbian."

Nokia Holds on To Top Spot

The top five smartphone vendors are, in order, Nokia, Apple, Research In Motion, Samsung and HTC. However, IDC said Nokia's lead is in danger as it continues to struggle in the North American market.

The smartphone market is getting more competitive. Symbian^3 and Windows Phone 7 entered the scene in 2010. In the first quarter of commercial availability, IDC said both Symbian^3 and Windows Phone 7 ramped up quickly. And by the end of the quarter, Nokia had shipped five million Symbian^3 units while Windows Phone 7 vendors shipped more than 1.5 million units.

"While Nokia is challenged at the high end and certainly has problems with dropping profitability -- quarter over quarter and year over year its profits are down -- unit sales are still very strong," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Nokia still has tremendous distribution and there are still people who like Symbian, particularly at some of the lower price points that some of the newer products are shipping."

Apple Gains Smartphone Ground

Apple's iPhone gained more ground in the worldwide smartphone market, IDC said, with shipment growth coming from Asia/Pacific and Japan. What's more, IDC reported, Apple made further inroads into the enterprise market, with more companies adding Apple's iPhone to their approved smartphone list and increased development of corporate-centered applications.

"Apple being number two is no shock or surprise to anyone, but it is rather momentous," Greengart said. "Apple is now not only one of the leaders in terms of mindshare, but also in market share, and they've been very strong in dollars."

Meanwhile, Research In Motion is showing strength, reaching a new shipment volume for a single quarter in the fourth quarter, and posting nearly identical year-over-year growth for both the quarter and the year. Stronger interest from outside North America helped. Greengart said, "Reports of RIM's demise have been greatly exaggerated."

HTC Cracks Top Five

Samsung took top honors for the largest year-over-year improvement for both the quarter and the year, an accomplishment largely fueled by its popular Galaxy S series smartphones. And HTC reaped triple-digit growth for both the quarter and the year, behind Samsung.

What's in store for the smartphone market in 2011? Further growth as smartphone makers deepen and broaden their offerings. Llamas said the high end of the market has been important to help grow the smartphone market in recent years.

"IDC expects vendors to provide more midrange and low-end smartphones at lower prices to reach the mass market," Llamas said. "In the same manner, even high-end devices will become available at lower prices. This will result in greater competition and more selection for users."