The worldwide mobile phone and smartphone markets continued to grow in Q3 2012. A total of 444.5 million mobile phones were shipped in the quarter (a 2.4% increase over the same quarter a year ago) while smartphones specifically recorded a growth of 45.3% year-over-year to reach shipments of 179.7 million units.
In the smartphone space, Apple and Samsung continued to domination. There was some shuffling of positions below them as Nokia fell out of the top five and Research In Motion climbed into third.
“Nokia’s share losses have meant gains for competitors,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. “The company’s transition away from Symbian-powered smartphones to ones shipped with Windows Phone has left ample opportunity for rivals to steal share away from Nokia over the past 18 months. However, the smartphone market is still relatively nascent, which means there’s room for multiple vendors and operating systems to flourish, including Nokia.”
Nokia was not the only manufacturer to drop in the ranking. HTC also fell one spot due to slowing sales in markets such as the U.S.
The following table shows the top five vendors in Q3 2012:
| Vendor | 3Q12 Unit Shipments | 3Q12 Market Share | 3Q11 Unit Shipments | 3Q11 Market Share | Year-over-year Change |
| Samsung | 56.3 | 31.3% | 28.1 | 22.7% | 100.4% |
| Apple | 26.9 | 15.0% | 17.1 | 13.8% | 57.3% |
| Research In Motion | 7.7 | 4.3% | 11.8 | 9.64% | -34.7% |
| ZTE | 7.5 | 4.2% | 4.1 | 3.3% | 82.9% |
| HTC | 7.3 | 4.0% | 12.7 | 10.3% | -42.5% |
| Others | 74.0 | 41.2% | 49.9 | 40.3% | 48.3% |
| Total | 179.7 | 100.0% | 123.7 | 100.0% | 45.3% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, October 25, 2012
In the mobile phone space, Samsung also holds down the top position. It is followed by Nokia, Apple, LG, and ZTE. Only Samsung and Apple showed overall growth over the same quarter a year ago.
IDC expects that both mobile phone and smartphone shipments will continue to grow as they become an increasingly pivotal tool in daily life.
Read more: IDC