iPhone grabs 6% of world phone shipments

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, 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, for example.

Of course, smartphones remain far more lucrative than ordinary phones. Hence Apple's financial success and Nokia's monetary woes.

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.