IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker indicates Apple has become the top smartphone maker, with its bitter rival Samsung trailing.
The market for smartphones grew 65.4 percent in the second quarter of 2011, claims IDC. The second quarter of 2011 is the third consecutive quarter where total shipments exceeded 100 million units.
Even though Apple took the lead, it is by no means a runaway leader, and the top 5 vendors are in a fluid position.
Of course, Apple’s leadership position has been based on the immense popularity of its iPhone devices. With an expected refresh later in 2011, volumes are set to reach higher levels.
For 2011, IDC maintains that the worldwide smartphone market will grow 55.0 percent over 2010.
According to IDC, the first half shows strong growth, but the second half 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.
Second-place Samsung realized the largest year-over-year growth of any vendor among the top five, with its flagship Galaxy S smartphones being key to its continued success. However, legal action from Apple looks like it could blunt the company.
Samsung’s strategy to steadily release new devices and updates has also allowed it to keep its lead in front of the competition.
Nokia ceded the number one position for the first time in the history of IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker, with smartphone volumes dipping below the 20 million unit mark for the first time since 3Q09.
Even as the company released new smartphones running on Symbian^3, demand for its products running on the aged Symbian platform has shifted to other devices. At the same time, Nokia is currently transitioning to MeeGio and Windows Phone-powered smartphones.
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.
Fifth-place HTC marked another upward quarter, having launched and announced several new smartphones to the market. These featured the latest technologies like 3D displays and 4G speeds.
Apple now top smartphone maker, Samsung second Electronics News
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