Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/27/apple_overshadowed_by_nokia_and_samsung_in_global_mobile_phone_market/
iPhone grabs 6% of world phone shipments
But Nokia and Samsung tower over Apple
Posted in Phones, 27th January 2012 09:20 GMT
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Apple increased its share of the world phone market in Q4 2011, accounting for 8.3 per cent of mobile shipments, but it's still a small fry compared to the likes of Nokia and Samsung.
Look at 2011 as a whole. Some 1.55bn handsets shipped during the year, but only six per cent of them - 93m units - had the iPhone brand, market watcher Strategy Analytics said.
Nokia, for all its woes, took more than a quarter of the market - 26.9 per cent, to be precise - and Samsung accounted for a further 21.1 per cent.
These figures show that while headlines may focus on smartphones [1], these gadgets are still being massively outsold by lesser kit designed for voice and a handful of other functions.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Nokia has sold more than 1.5bn Series 40 handsets [2], for example.
Of course, smartphones remain far more lucrative than ordinary phones. Hence Apple's financial success [3] and Nokia's monetary woes [4].
Apple raised its game during 2011, almost doubling its 2010 mobile market share of 3.5 per cent.
Nokia slid from a 2010 share of 33.3 per cent; Samsung was up a little: this time last year, SA said its 2010 share was 20.6 per cent.
Some 1.36bn phones shipped in 2010, making for year-on-year growth of 14.1 per cent.