According to the latest analyst report from Gartner smartphone sales to end users increased by 42 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011, compared to 2010, and with the significant recent announcements and upcoming holiday season I imagine that will increase even more in the 4th quarter. Smartphone sales accounted for 26 percent of all mobile phone sales, which is fairly consistent from the previous quarter too.
Nokia still leads the world in mobile phone sales with 23.9 percent, but has seen a 4.5 percent decrease from 2010 as HTC, Huawei, Apple, and ZTE have increased in this area. Samsung is now the number 1 smartphone manufacturer with triple sales to end users compared to last year.
Despite a drop in market share, Nokia continued to be the worldwide leader in mobile device sales as it accounted for 23.9 percent of global sales. The second quarter of 2011 was the low point for Nokia, and the third quarter brought signs of improvement. Dual-SIM phones in particular, and feature phones generally, maintained Nokia’s momentum in emerging markets. Heavy marketing from both Nokia and Microsoft to push the new Lumia devices should bring more improvement in the fourth quarter of 2011. However, a true turnaround won’t take place until the second half of 2012.
In terms of operating systems, Android went from just 25.3 percent in Q3 2010 to an astonishing 52.5 percent in 2011. Symbian dropped from 36.3 to 16.9, iOS went down from 16.6 to 15.0, RIM went down from 15.4 to 11.0, Bada went up from 1.1 to 2.2, and Microsoft went down from 2.7 to 1.5.
