Up to 420 million smartphones to be sold in 2011?

With 2010 about to wrap up, attention is turning to 2011. Citing unspecified marketing research firms, Digitimes is reporting that smartphone sales will top 400 million units and perhaps reach as high as 420 million next year. This would be a significant increase over this year’s sales, expected to fall between 270 and 280 million units.

Not only are smartphones sales growing but they are also growing faster than overall handset sales. Global handset sales will increase by about 10 percent over this year to between 1.45 and 1.55 billion devices. Smartphones will account for as much as 27 percent of that number, up from about 20 percent this year.

According to the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), Apple was the most profitable handset manufacturer in 2010, accounting for an impressive 40 percent of total worldwide profit. Nokia, Samsung, Research in Motion and HTC topped out the top five. The last accounted for 5.7 percent of worldwide profits and that share could climb to 8 percent in 2011.

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