Global mobile phone handset shipments rose 11.3 percent to 365.4 million in the quarter, and Apple’s iPhone sales led the way.
“For the overall market to grow by double digits year over year, despite the decline in feature phones, is testament to the strength of the global smartphone market,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team, about the latest quarterly sales report.
“While this is not a new trend – smartphones have been the primary engine of growth for the last several quarters – it does mark something of a transition point, as demonstrated by the growing number and variety of smartphones featured in the vendors’ portfolios,” he added.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) more than doubled its share of the global handset market as the iPhone maker posted record shipments, while Nokia’s lead in the industry shrank amid a sales slump.
Apple increased its market share to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, from 2.6 percent a year earlier, IDC said in an e-mailed statement today. Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics, the three biggest vendors, all lost market share, making Apple the only one of the top-four to post a gain, according to the Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher.
Nokia this month posted its first quarterly loss since 2009 as the Espoo, Finland-based company reported weaker-than- expected revenue. Apple, the world’s biggest technology company by market value, had record sales and profit last quarter helped by demand for the iPhone, its biggest revenue contributor.
Nokia’s market share shrank to 24.2 percent from 33.8 percent a year earlier, after shipments plunged 20 percent, according to IDC. The Finnish company is losing out to low-cost vendors including China’s TCL Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co., according to IDC.
Samsung, maker of the Galaxy smartphone, accounted for 19.2 percent of the global mobile-phone market last quarter, declining from 19.4 percent a year earlier, IDC said. LG’s market share fell to 6.8 percent from 9.3 percent, IDC said.
The sales picture continued to darken for feature phones, which shrank 4 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Shipments fell most in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe where users are rapidly transitioning to smartphones. The decline is the first since the third quarter of 2009, IDC noted. The shrinkage reflects “a combination of conservative spending and continued shift to smartphones,” IDC said.
“The shrinking feature phone market is having the greatest impact on some of the world’s largest suppliers of mobile phones,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, in a statement. “Stalwarts such as Nokia are losing share in the feature phone category to low-cost suppliers such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel, and Huawei.”
Read the IDC report here.
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