IDG News Service - As worldwide smartphone sales grew by 50% during the second quarter, Android was the big winner, as it became the third largest operating system and sales passed 10 million units for the first time, according to research firm Gartner (see table below).
The Android camp sold 10.6 million smartphones during the second quarter, up from about 755,900 a year ago and 5.2 million during the first three months of 2010. Sales are still mainly driven by North America, where Android is now the number one platform. A large number of smartphones at different prices, combined with availability on many wireless carriers, are the reasons for Android's explosive growth, according to Gartner. Before the end of the year, it is expected to become the second largest smartphone operating system, Gartner said.
Symbian is still the largest smartphone operating system in the world. Sales totaled 25.4 million units, up from 20.9 million a year earlier, but its market share dropped from 51% to 41.2%.
Research In Motion (RIM) may have been forced to concede the top spot in North America to Android, but it held on to the second spot worldwide. Also, it is still the fourth largest phone maker in the world. Sales grew from 7.8 million to 11.2 million Blackberries, but its market share dropped from 19% to 18.2%.
Apple's iOS is now the fourth largest smartphone operating system in the world. Sales grew from 5.3 million to 8.7 million iPhones, and its market share grew from 13.0% to 14.2%.
In the fifth spot, sales of smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile stayed at 3.1 million units, with market share dropping from 9.3% to 5%. The arrival of phones running the Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, are badly needed to give the ailing platform a boost.
Smartphone sales totaled 61.6 million units, which means that almost one in five phones picked up by end users is now a smartphone.
However, all is not well in the smartphone market, at least for the makers, according to Gartner. Shortages of, for example, AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays, had a negative impact on the sales of some new models. Price competition, a growing number of low-cost smartphones and currency fluctuations meant the average sales price dropped, Gartner said.
Overall, the sales of mobile phones continued to grow during the second quarter, totalling 325.6 million units, Gartner said.
| Company | '10 Units | '10 Mkt Share | '09 Units | '09 Mkt Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nokia | 111,473.8 | 34.2 | 105,413.4 | 36.8 |
| Samsung | 65,328.2 | 20.1 | 55,430.1 | 19.3 |
| LG | 29,366.7 | 9.0 | 30,497.0 | 10.7 |
| Research In Motion | 11,228.8 | 3.4 | 7,678.9 | 2.7 |
| Sony Ericsson | 11,008.5 | 3.4 | 13,574.3 | 4.7 |
| Motorola | 9,109.4 | 2.8 | 15,947.8 | 5.6 |
| Apple | 8,743.0 | 2.7 | 5,434.7 | 1.9 |
| HTC | 5,908.8 | 1.8 | 2,471.0 | 0.9 |
| ZTE | 5,545.8 | 1.7 | 3,697.9 | 1.3 |
| G'Five | 5,208.6 | 1.6 | NA | NA |
| Others | 62,635.2 | 19.3 | 45,977.2 | 16.1 |
| Total | 325,556.8 | 100.0 | 286,122.3 | 100.0 |
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