Android dominates global smartphone market
Latest Canalys research reveals rival Nokia is under "considerable strain" but is still number one in 28 countries
Android has widened the gap at the top of the smartphone market leaderboard, snaring 35 per cent of the global market.
Asia Pacific (APAC) became the largest smartphone market region with year-on-year growth of 98 per cent to 37.3 million units, catapulting it ahead of EMEA for the first time since Q3 2007.
Globally, smartphone shipments grew 83 per cent to 101 million units and despite continued shrinking market share Nokia held on to its global leadership position, with 24.2 million units shipped representing a 13 per cent rise on the previous year.
APAC became the largest region for Nokia, equating to 53 per cent of its overall shipments and overtaking EMEA by more than three million units.
Pete Cunningham, principal analyst at Canalys, said: “Nokia is under considerable strain in the smartphone market as it transitions strategy, platforms and people. Its worldwide reach, however, should never be underestimated. The vendor remains number one in 28 countries, including mainland China, where it grew 79 per cent, thanks in part to Chinese New Year shipments.”
At a platform level, Android’s dominance was buoyed by strong performances from a number of its top vendors.
Cunningham added: “HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson drove Android shipments in the first quarter, with each vendor shipping well over three million devices. Samsung also shipped nearly 3.5 million bada operating system-based smartphones, outperforming total shipments of Windows Phone devices by more than a million units.”
Nokia, Apple, RIM, Samsung and HTC held on to the top five global smartphone places, with Apple continuing to gain market share, reaching 19 per cent.
RIM lost ground in Q1 due to an awaited portfolio refresh and its focus on the launch of the PlayBook. LG leapfrogged Motorola to take sixth place, seeing good uptake of its Optimus series of Android smartphones.