Samsung dominates in global mobile phone sales
Gartner has recently unveiled its latest figures for worldwide mobile phone sales, revealing that Samsung is extending its lead over rivals Nokia and Apple.
Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached almost 428 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 3.1% decline from the third quarter of 2011.
Smartphone sales accounted for 39.6% of total mobile phone sales, as smartphone sales increased 46.9% from the third quarter of 2011.
While the mobile phone market declined year-on-year, Gartner analysts said there were positive signs for the industry during the third quarter.
“After two consecutive quarters of decline in mobile phone sales, demand has improved in both mature and emerging markets as sales increased sequentially,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.
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Smartphones continued to fuel sales of mobile phones worldwide, with sales rising to 169.2 million units in the third quarter of 2012. The smartphone market was dominated by Apple and Samsung.
“Both vendors together controlled 46.5% of smartphone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting over a distant third spot,” said Gupta.
Mobile phone sales in 3Q12 (Thousands of Units)
Nokia slipped from No. 3, in the second quarter of 2012, to No. 7 in smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2012. RIM moved to the No. 3 spot with HTC not far behind, at No. 4.
Samsung’s mobile phones sales continued to accelerate, totalling almost 98 million units in the third quarter of 2012, up 18.6% year-on-year.
Samsung saw strong demand for Galaxy smartphones across different price points, and it further widened the gap with Apple in the smartphone market, selling 55 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2012. It commanded 32.5% of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012.
| Company | 3Q12 Units | 3Q12 Market Share (%) | 3Q11 Units | 3Q11 Market Share (%) |
| Samsung | 97,956.8 | 22.9 | 82,612.2 | 18.7 |
| Nokia | 82,300.6 | 19.2 | 105,353.5 | 23.9 |
| Apple | 23,550.3 | 5.5 | 17,295.3 | 3.9 |
| ZTE | 16,654.2 | 3.9 | 14,107.8 | 3.2 |
| LG Electronics | 13,968.8 | 3.3 | 21,014.6 | 4.8 |
| Huawei Device | 11,918.9 | 2.8 | 10,668.2 | 2.4 |
| TCL Communication | 9,326.7 | 2.2 | 9,004.7 | 2.0 |
| Research in Motion | 8,946.8 | 2.1 | 12,701.1 | 2.9 |
| Motorola | 8,562.7 | 2.0 | 11,182.7 | 2.5 |
| HTC | 8,428.6 | 2.0 | 12,099.9 | 2.7 |
| Others | 146,115.1 | 34.2 | 145,462.2 | 32.9 |
| Total | 427,729.5 | 100.0 | 441,502.2 | 100.0 |
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