IDC’s prediction has come true: Over a billion smartphones were shipped across the world for the first time ever in 2013. According to the latest instalment of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide smartphone shipments hit 1,004.2 million units last year. It’s an impressive increase of 38.4% over 2012 when 725.3 million smartphones were shipped.
“The sheer volume and strong growth attest to the smartphone’s continued popularity in 2013,” says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Total smartphone shipments reached 494.4 million units worldwide in 2011, and doubling that volume in just two years demonstrates strong end-user demand and vendor strategies to highlight smartphones.”
Driving that demand according to IDC are large screen devices and low cost with the latter described as the “key difference maker.” Samsung remained “the clear leader in worldwide smartphone shipments” followed by Apple, Huawei, LG and Lenovo. THe table below shows how they fared in 2013 and the year before:
| Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 (Units in Millions) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | 2013 Shipment Volumes | 2013 Market Share | 2012 Shipment Volumes | 2012 Market Share | Year-over-Year Change |
| Samsung | 313.9 | 31.3% | 219.7 | 30.3% | 42.9% |
| Apple | 153.4 | 15.3% | 135.9 | 18.7% | 12.9% |
| Huawei | 48.8 | 4.9% | 29.1 | 4%0.04 | 67.5% |
| LG | 47.7 | 4.8% | 26.3 | 3.6% | 81.1% |
| Lenovo | 45.5 | 4.5% | 23.7 | 3.3% | 91.7% |
| Others | 394.9 | 39.3% | 290.5 | 40.1% | 35.9% |
| Total | 1004.2 | 100 | 725.3 | 1 | 0.384 |
The overall mobile phone market hit 1,821.8 million units, up 4.8% over 2012, clearly showing that the growth is being driven by the smartphone market. Samsung, Nokia, Apple, LG and Huawei made up the top five when it comes to the overall mobile phone market.
Despite slowing growth in mature markets, demand in emerging markets will ensure that the smartphone market will continue to grow over the next few years. By 2017, it expects that smartphone shipments could top 1.7 billion units annually.
Source : IDC