Communications and Technology Industry Research

Smartphone makers Nokia and BlackBerry fell by the wayside in the second quarter, as Apple and Samsung (News - Alert) flew past them to lead the top five global smartphone makers, according to research firm International Data Corporation.

The US economy may be in the toilet, but the worldwide mobile phone market grew 65.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2011. The second quarter marked the third consecutive quarter where total shipments exceeded 100 million units, IDC said.

According to the “Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone TrackerBy comparison, the worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2011, which was fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers, IDC said.,” vendors shipped 106.5 million units in 2Q11 compared to 64.4 million units in the second quarter of 2010.

Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone (News - Alert) Technology and Trends team, said demand for Apple is so strong, that even more dated models of the iPhone are still sought after.

“The smartphone market crowned a new leader in 2Q11, and its name is Apple,” Llamas said. “Ever since the first iPhone launched in 2007, Apple has made market-setting strides in hardware, software, and channel development to grab mindshare and market share. Demand has been so strong that even models that have been out for one or two years are still being sought out. With an expected refresh later this year, volumes are set to reach higher levels.”

The trajectory for the smartphone market looks healthy, according to IDC’s findings. For 2011, IDC maintains that the worldwide smartphone market will grow 55.0 percent over 2010.

“The first half of the year has demonstrated strong growth for the smartphone market,” Llamas added. “The second half of the year will bring new flagship models and refreshed user experiences to market. These will keep smartphones well out in front of the market, and keep growth on an upward trajectory.”

For the second quarter of 2011, IDC ranked the top five smartphone makers in this order: Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Research in Motion and HTC (News - Alert).

However, Kevin Restivo, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, said the smartphone market leadership change signifies the equality that comes with a fast-growing market such as smartphones, meaning they rank closely and it’s anyone’s game.

“There is no runaway leader in the market, which means there could easily be further top five vendor changes to come,” Restivo said.

According to researchers, Apple’s success can be directly attributed to its distribution (more than 200 carriers in more than 200 countries), increased manufacturing capacity, and solid demand within emerging and developed markets from both consumers and business users.

Samsung saw the largest year-over-year growth of any vendor among the top five, and key to its continued success was the global popularity of its flagship Galaxy S smartphones. Nokia’s smartphone volumes dipped below the 20 million unit mark for the first time since 3Q09. Even as the company released new smartphones running, demand for its products running on the aged Symbian (News - Alert) platform has shifted to other devices, IDC said.

Research in Motion posted the lowest year-over-year growth of all the vendors in the top five, but still shipped enough BlackBerry smartphones to be the number four vendor worldwide. The company has released only a few new models so far this year, leaving the bulk of its shipments to be comprised of older, less expensive models, IDC pointed out. Meanwhile, HTC marked another upward quarter, having launched and announced several new smartphones to the market. These featured 3D displays and 4G speeds, attesting to HTC’s ability to bring devices with the latest and forward-thinking technologies.

The 65.4 percent growth year over year in the second quarter was “on par” with IDC’s forecast of 67.3 percent for the quarter and below the 84.0 percent year-over-year growth in 1Q11.

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