The global mobile phone market grew 17.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010, driven by the growing smartphone device category, according to a new report from market intelligence firm IDC.
The new report showed that vendors shipped 401.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to 340.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Vendors shipped a total of 1.39 billion units on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2010, up 18.5% from the 1.17 billion units shipped in 2009.
IDC worldwide mobile phone tracker senior research analyst Kevin Restivo said mobile phone users are eager to swap out older devices for ones that handle data as well as voice, which is driving growth and replacement cycles.
For the fourth quarter of 2010, Nokia gained the top spot with a market share of 30.8%, with shipments reaching 123.7 million, a decrease of 2.4%, compared to 126.8 million units shipped in the same period last year.
Samsung stood second in the list with 80.7 million units accounting for 20.1% market share.
LG Electronics shipments decreased by 9.7% to 30.6 million from 33.9 million units in the same period last year, with a market share of 7.6%.
Apple took a market share of 4% with 16.2 million units shipped in the quarter, up 86.2%, compared to 8.7 million units shipped in Q4 2009.
Geographically, the Asia/Pacific mobile phone market was driven by low-cost and high-end devices in 4Q10.
Domestic brands in India like G-Five, Micromax, and Karbonn grew with aggressive advertising and branding activities for entry-level phones, while ZTE and Huawei worked closely with carriers to push low-cost Android smartphones in China.
The Western Europe, carrier smartphone promotions motivated more users to scrap their feature phones, resulting in strong smartphone sales.
The iPhone 4, HTC Desire, Nokia N8, Samsung Galaxy S, and Blackberry 8520, which were among the region’s top sellers, contributed to the overall market’s growth.
The North American market leaders RIM and Apple maintained a healthy lead, while newcomers Dell, Huawei, Kyocera, and Sanyo launched their first smartphones in the US.
