Global mobile communication device sales to end-users reached 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19% compared to the first quarter of 2010, according to Gartner.
The research firm said that smartphones continued to outpace the rest of the market, and a newly competitive mid-tier smartphone market will drive smartphones into mass adoption and accelerate the growth trend.
Gartner principal research analyst Roberta Cozza said smartphones accounted for 23.6% of overall sales in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 85% year-on-year.
"This share could have been even higher, but manufacturers announced a number of high-profile devices during the first quarter of 2011 that would not ship until the second quarter of 2011. We believe some consumers delayed their purchases to wait for these models," Cozza said.
Nokia sold 107.6 million mobile devices in the first quarter of 2011. Its market share declined 5.5 percentage points year-on-year and its share reached the lowest since 1997.
Samsung’s shift to higher-end smartphones, such as the Galaxy line, led to an increase in ASPs. This helped to offset an increase in materials costs and helped the company to sell 68.8 million mobile devices in the first quarter of 2011, said Gartner.
Apple sold 16.9 million units to end users worldwide, more than doubling its sales of iPhones year-on-year, while HTC recorded strong first quarter with 9.3 million mobile communication devices sold and moved to the No. 7 position.
The research firm said that although in mature markets the shift from feature phones to smartphones is accelerating, smartphones overall moved down-market in the first quarter of 2011.
Manufacturers including HTC, Sony Ericsson, Alcatel and ZTE, announced a broader portfolio of mid-tier devices, mainly based on Android, which will reach the market in the second quarter of 2011.
In the first quarter of 2011, RIM announced that it would transition its BlackBerry portfolio to the QNX platform in 2012.
Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011, as devices launched at the end of 2010 failed to grow in consumer preference and CSPs continued to focus on Android. However, Gartner said that in the long term, Nokia’s support will accelerate Windows Phone’s momentum.
Gartner research vice-president Carolina Milanesi said 13.3 million-unit growth in channel inventory, along with some softness in demand from users in emerging markets registered at the start of the second quarter of 2011, is leading them to be cautious about sales in the reminder of the year.
"We are currently revising down our 2011 sales estimate as a result of these trends, and expect it will likely drop to between 1.790 billion and 1.795 billion units," Milanesi said.
