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22 October 2010

 

Smartphone shipments grow 78% year-on-year to 77 million in Q3

Global smartphone shipments grew an impressive 78% year-on-year from 43.4 million in third-quarter 2009 to a record 77.1 million units in third-quarter 2010, according a new report from the Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service of market research firm Strategy Analytics.

“Apple was the star performer during the quarter, as it captured a record 18% market share [up from 17% a year ago], overtook RIM [Research In Motion] and closed the gap on Nokia [to the smallest level since first entering the mobile market in 2007],” says director Tom Kang. Apple’s unit shipments almost doubled from 7.4 million a year ago to 14.1 million in Q3/2010.

Picture: Apple's iPhone 4.

Smartphone vendor shipments (millions)
Q3/09
2009
Q3/10
Nokia
16.4
67.8
26.5
Apple
7.4
25.1
14.1

RIM

8.5
34.5
12.4
Others
11.1
47.3
24.1
Total
43.4
174.7
77.1
Smartphone vendor market share
Q3/09
2009
Q3/10
Nokia
37.8%
38.8%
34.4%
Apple
17.0%
14.4%
18.3%

RIM

19.6%
19.7%
16.1%
Others
25.6%
27.1%
31.3%
Total
100%
100%
100%

Nokia shipped record smartphone volumes of more than 26.5 million units (up on 16.4 million a year ago). However, this was not sufficient to prevent its market share dipping from 37.8% to a low of 34.4%. In addition, RIM continues to be hampered by a limited presence in the high-growth touch-screen segment, and consequently its smartphone market share has fallen from 19.6% a year ago to 16.1%.

The global smartphone shipment growth rate of 78% year-on-year is the industry’s fastest since the mid-2000s. “However, the surging volumes are placing heavy demands on component suppliers, and moderate shortages of select components are emerging ahead of the Q4 holiday season,” notes fellow director Neil Mawston.

See related items:

Smartphone shipments jump 43% year-on-year to 59.5 million in Q2

Smartphone shipments jump 50% to 54m in Q1/2010

Search: Smartphone shipments

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