IDC and Juniper: Samsung dominates, LG rises, Apple remains steady

Just over a month ago, ZDNet's Zack Whittaker wrote that smartphones were on pace to overtake feature phones, and in the latest IDC report, they reveal that more smartphones shipped in Q1 2013 than feature phones. There were 216.2 million smartphones reportedly shipped, compared to 202.4 million feature phones.

There were less overall units shipped in Q1 than there were in Q4, but the balance went to smartphones for the first time ever. People want more in their smartphone, and with the large number of choices, you can find them across the price spectrum as well.

As reported by both IDC and Juniper Research, Samsung continues to dominate the smartphone market, with growth reported of nearly 61 percent. Once the Galaxy S4 launches, I am sure we will see that figure grow over this quarter as well.

Apple showed about a 7 percent growth over 2012 for the same quarter, and may remain flat if they really don't launch a new iPhone until the "fall" time period that Tim Cook stated in the recent earnings call.

LG posted their best smartphone sales quarter, appearing in third place for the smartphone market. The Nexus 4 and Optimus G drove those sales.

We also saw Chinese companies appearing in the top smartphone vendor figures, with Huawei and ZTE making the top five vendor list. The "Others" category is quite large, and includes companies like HTC, Nokia, Motorola, and BlackBerry.

Nokia still appears in second in overall mobile phone sales, thanks in large part to its Asha phone line. They have seen higher Lumia sales than the previous quarter, a reported 27 percent rise, and they are expanding their Lumia line to cover all levels of cost.