Smartphone Sales Up Dramatically Last Year

According to a report by market-research firm IDC, the worldwide smartphone market grew 54.7% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011. For the whole year, shipments were up a very respectible 61.3%

The report released this afternoon showed that vendors shipped 157.8 million units in Q4 2011, compared to the 102.0 million units shipped in the same quarter of the previous year. IDC forecasted an increase of 40% for the quarter, but was blown away with the actual increase. "By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team.

For the whole year, the total smartphone shipment volume was 491.4 million units in 2011, up from the 304.7 million units sold in 2010.

Results By Company
While the iPhone 4S helped launch Apple ahead of its competitors in the fourth quarter, in terms of shipments, Samsung was the leader in smartphones shipped for the whole year. In 2011, Samsung had a shipment volume of 94.0 million, followed by Apple with 93.2 million, and Nokia with 77.3 million. RIM and HTC followed with a 51.1 million and 43.5  million units shipped respectively.

With the numbers skyrocketing to an all-time high, IDC fully expects the smartphone market to see a double-digit growth in the foreseeable future.

Source: IDC