During 2012, 1.6 billion handsets were shipped, with 700 million from that figure attributed to smartphones.
The figure represents a 2 percent increase when compared to 2011. The market's slow growth was blamed on stricter upgrade policies, changing consumer tastes and economic challenges stemming from North America and Western Europe.
Global smartphone shipments increased by 490.5 million units when compared to 2011, but the subsequent 43 percent growth rate is eclipsed in comparison to 2011's growth rate of 64 percent over 2010. Saturation in North America and Western Europe was cited as the reason for the slower growth.
According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped the most handsets throughout the year with a 30 percent share, with Nokia and Apple following. As for smartphones, Samsung shipped the most units, while Apple followed in second, with Nokia trailing behind at third place. Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE settled for fourth place.
Apple accounted for 19 percent of the market with 135.8 million iPhone units shipped during 2012 (47.8 million in Q4), representing an increase of 46 percent. It benefited from strong demand in North America but failed to establish a presence within several developing markets such as Africa. Nokia, meanwhile, saw its market share drop from 16 percent to 5 percent.
"Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy models, Samsung was the star performer, shipping a record 396.5 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing 25 percent marketshare to solidify its first-place lead. However, Samsung’s total volumes for the year fell just short of the 400-million threshold," said Strategy Analytics
"Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels, and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry," the market researcher added.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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A Bad Day vaughn2kThen saturation will follow slowly...Reply
That's why you always find new markets. (Most) super computers were dominated by mainframes. Mainframes were dominated by PCs. (most) PCs and standard phones were dominated by smartphones and tablets.
If you watch at least the trailer of "H+: The Digital Series" (all episodes found on Youtube), you'll get an idea of what will replace smartphones and tablets.
Nano-computers injected into human brain, with WiFi connection. -
keither5150 I was one of the 700 million. For 2013 I will get the wife a S4 or a note 2. I will have to wait until 2014 unless my note 2 has an accident. Samsung sure moves a lot of phones.Reply -
twelve25 And probably 1.4 billion will be in the landfill by next year. We need a better phone recycling program if we are going to keep this up.Reply -
A Bad Day twelve25And probably 1.4 billion will be in the landfill by next year. We need a better phone recycling program if we are going to keep this up.Reply
Recycling? Sorry, the free market system does not take in consideration of environmental impacts. Too expensive.
/sarcasm -
A Bad Day twelve25And probably 1.4 billion will be in the landfill by next year. We need a better phone recycling program if we are going to keep this up.Reply
I also forgot to mention that with the trend of making everything thinner, manufacturers like Apple are resorting to recycle-unfriendly engineering methods to squeeze every last 0.1mm, such as gluing batteries or soldering everything (no replaceable electronic components). -
cats_Paw in two to three years all those batteries will be poluting the earth almost for certain.Reply
Not sure this is such a great thing. -
JackFrost860 i'm really suppressed that people are still non-smart phones! like why would you want a dumb phone? That said, smart phone batteries barely last more than a day and phones like my old Nokia lasted a whole week.Reply -
JackFrost860i'm really suppressed that people are still non-smart phones! like why would you want a dumb phone? That said, smart phone batteries barely last more than a day and phones like my old Nokia lasted a whole week.Reply
It may seem that everyone you know has a smartphone, but most people just can't afford a smartphone, even the cheap chinese knock offs are too expensive for a lot of chinese citizens