30 April 2011

Apple overtakes ZTE for 4th place in handset shipments in Q1

Driven by surging smartphones in mature regions and popular multi-SIM models in emerging markets, global handset shipments grew 17% year-on-year from 298.4 million units in first-quarter 2010 to 350 million units in first-quarter 2011, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics. This year will be the first year when every quarter will exceed 300 million units, it forecasts.

Table: Handset vendor shipments and market share in Q1/2011.

In particular, Apple captured fourth place in global handset shipments, rising from sixth position a year earlier and leapfrogging rival ZTE. Both had market share of 2.9% a year ago, but now Apple’s is 5.3% and ZTE’s is 4.3%. “Apple was a star performer during the quarter, as it shipped a record 18.6 million handsets [up from 8.8 million],” says senior analyst Alex Spektor in the report ‘Apple Overtakes ZTE for 4th Position in Global Handset Shipments in Q1 2011’ published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service.

“It was a mixed quarter for the world’s major handset vendors,” comments Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston. “Some brands outperformed, such as Apple and ZTE, while others underperformed, such as LG and Nokia,” he adds. “LG lost ground due to sluggish feature-phone volumes, while Nokia continued to struggle in 3G smartphones and the important US market.”

Samsung shipped 68.9 million handsets in Q1/2011, rising a relatively sluggish 7% from 64.3 million units a year earlier. Its market share has dipped from 22% to 20% over the past year, due to rising competition in 2G and 3G touchphone markets.

See related items:

Apple largest handset vendor by revenue in Q1

Handset sales up 20.8% year-on-year to 382.9m in Q1

Mobile phone market grows 17.9% year-on-year in Q4

Tags: Apple Mobile handset shipments

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