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Topic: Smartphones

Global mobile phone sales take a hit; Nokia yields to Apple, Samsung

Summary: Smartphones continue to show growth despite a decline in mobile phone shipments year over year -- with Apple and Samsung widening their lead over Nokia.

Andrew Nusca

By for Between the Lines |

Worldwide sales of mobile phones saw a nine percent decline year-over-year, to 379 million units, as demand slowed in emerging markets in the first quarter of 2012, according to a new report.

A recent study by market research firm Forward Concepts found that smartphones continue to be the engine behind the mobile sector: 139 million units were sold in the first quarter of 2012, representing 37 percent of the total global cellular phone market.

In terms of growth, that's an anemic 6.9 percent increase quarter over quarter, but a 44.4 percent gain year over year.

Within the smartphone category, both Apple and Samsung raised their combined share to 45.7 percent -- a year ago, it was 30 percent -- partially at the expense of Nokia, which now enjoys only an 8.6 percent share of the market.

Still, all vendors were impacted by the decline, Forward Concepts says, but how much depends on how diligent the OEM was managing its supply chain. According to the report, Chinese white-box vendors (Huawei, ZTE, TCL) suffered the most because their inventories were "bloated."

The report also covered tablets. In 1Q12, Apple's iPad saw a 59.3 percent share of what the company calls the "media tablet" market, which includes e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook.

In return, shipments of Google Android-based tablets declined. Forward Concepts chalked the result up to the second-generation iPad's new, lower entry-level price of $399, $100 less than its successor.

More data points:

  • Global e-reader shipments dropped precipitously quarter-over-quarter, from 4.2 million units to just 1.4 million units, demonstrating how popular the devices are as a holiday gift.
  • In 2011, 1.51 billion cellular phones were shipped, a 6.5 percent increase over 2010. Forward Concepts predicts 11 percent growth in 2012 and 17 percent growth for the smartphone segment, to 502 million units.
  • Samsung passed Nokia in overall cellphone unit shipments in 1Q12; Apple took third place but led both in revenue.

Topics: Smartphones, Hardware, Laptops, Mobility, Networking, Processors, Tablets

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15 comments
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  • Nokia is a rudderless ship

    Drifting uncontrollably Choosing WP 7 was not a wise decision. Selling phone with a feature phone OS (WP 7) is one reason they're not making any headway. If Elop tried to do the best thing, rather than allowing his loyalty to Ballmer get in the way, Nokia could be in a much stronger position. Like Samsung Nokia should have kept the Android option open. They could have then sued Microsoft for the IP that WP 7 is infringing on, and the world could be a better place.
    Jumpin Jack Flash
    Reply Vote

    • You have it backwards.

      Companies using Android are paying licensing fees to Microsoft.
      msalzberg
      Reply Vote

      • And if not for Elop's Microsoft ties

        Nokia would have gone Android, and Sued Microsoft for IP infringement. As it sits Nokia makes very little selling WP 7 phones. They make more from license fees, and that can't even cover their losses.
        Jumpin Jack Flash
        Reply Vote

    • Your comments are like a rudderless ship

      you keep sailing around in circles with the same old lines, claiming you know a better way of doing things to anybody you hope will listen, looking for some port that will take you in.

      What good would yet another Android phone in the market do? Nothing. From all accounts, the vast majority of Android sales are cheap to free phones.

      And Nokia doesn't do cheap, so Android would have been an immediate death knell the moment they would have made such an announcement.

      MS was their best shot, and will pay off far better then Android would.
      William Farrel
      Reply Vote

      • ijs

        [b]And Nokia doesn't do cheap..[/b]

        Some of the cheapist and crappiest phones i have ever seen were Nokias.
        Scarface Claw
        Reply Vote

    • Market Share

      Windows Phone 7 seems to be doing pretty well in China, exceeding iOS's market share according to reports. Maybe Nokia's smarter than you think.
      ParrotHead_FL
      Reply Vote

  • Nokias great descision to go with WP is now starting to payoff and theyre

    beginning to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market, even as moto, htc, etc are caught in their death spiral race to the bottom where theyll join zte and huawei. Nokia now has the two top selling phones in the US, and after only 2 months is out selling the iphone in China. Soon theyll hve regained their leadership position as the top seller in north america, europe, asia, and africa. They owe it all to the brilliant move by Elop to focus exclusively on WP. What remarkable a turn around theyve made in just 1 year since that decisive point, and what a great next years pipeline they have with their new incredible WP8 phones with the 41 megapixel cameras and their new W8 tablets. RIM should be scrambling to dump qnx and take a similar WP exclusive position.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply Vote

    • Facts vs. Fanboys

      Don't muddle the argument with facts; WP7 opponents aren't interested in them.
      ParrotHead_FL
      Reply Vote

    • Only if you delusional.

      "What remarkable a turn around theyve made in just 1 year since that decisive point, and what a great next years pipeline they have with their new incredible WP8 phones with the 41 megapixel cameras and their new W8 tablets. "

      First it's been over a year, and Nokia is hemorrhaging money left and right, with nearly 2 billion in losses, last quarter. Nokia phones are so-so, at one time Nokia phones were the best you could get. Now they're made in the same factories that make the real cheap "no-name" phones.
      Jumpin Jack Flash
      Reply Vote

      • Nokia phones are so-so? Siri would disagree with you on that point,

        since, when people asked the question about which is/was the best smartphone, Siri answered with "Nokia 900" being the best.

        But, Siri or not, "best" does not equate to "most popular" or "most sold" or "most used". When it comes to the quality and ease of use, WP7/Nokia has become the "best" overall smartphone in the industry.
        adornoe
        Reply Vote

      • Mac sales tell the tale

        Why aren't Macs the top selling PC's? Because they're junk.

        But then sales show how so-so they are, if we go by your reasoning. ;)
        William Farrel
        Reply Vote

      • We did that trick with a few iPhone4S users

        adornoe@...

        and got a great laugh out of it each time - we asked "what's the best smartphone" and it responded [i]the one you are holding[/i].
        We then asked "what's the best smartphone ever" and it came back with [i]The Nokia Lumia 900[/i].

        I'm sure Apple was on the phone screaming at the developers to change that immediately, or else!
        :D
        William Farrel
        Reply Vote

      • William Farrel: Windows Troll

        "We then asked "what's the best smartphone ever" and it came back with The Nokia Lumia 900."
        Funny mine doesn't say that, and considering what a piece of crap the Lumia 900 is Microsoft must be paying some a buttload of cash to skew the results.
        Jumpin Jack Flash
        Reply Vote

      • Jumpin Jack Flash: "You can't handle the truth!!!"...

        like that guy in the movie said.

        I wonder, how would MS go about skewing the results? If that's possible, then the search engines have a very big flaw in them. And, if Siri were able to be tampered with, especially by MS, then Apple has even bigger problems in its hands.
        adornoe
        Reply Vote

  • Great work...

    So basically they just reiterated data that was already researched by other firms?

    http://www.tech-thoughts.net/
    sameer_singh17
    Reply Vote
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