Thanks to the rise of the popular, non-business smartphone – namely any phone that supports app creation – carriers can expect to sell 420 million units this year, taking over a quarter of total phone sales away from “traditional” phones.
The winners in this race? Samsung and Apple. The loser – by a long shot? Nokia, with a fall from 40% to 24% in one year.
Of the traditional handset manufacturers, Samsung has demonstrated the best results in recent years. Capitalizing on its diverse portfolio – which includes devices using the company’s own bada operating system along with Android and Windows Mobile – as well as its highly popular Galaxy series, Samsung smartphone market share increased from about three percent in 1Q 2010 to over 13 percent in 1Q 2011. At the same time smaller, dedicated smartphone vendors such as HTC have seen their position rise dramatically.
It’s easy to forget that the mass of men (and women) lead lives of quiet non-smartphone ownership. Although we wouldn’t leave home without our Gingerbread-powered wundermachines, the market is still wide open for someone to slip in between the expensive smartphone and the nearly free dumbphone, a spot originally controlled by Nokia but now slowly being eroded by Samsung and LG.
It’s also interesting to note that RIM fell 5% from 20% of the market since 1Q10. IMS also predicts 1 billion smartphone sales by 2016.
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
