Apple took the lead in the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2011 as the sector saw explosive growth of 54.7% year-on-year to 157.8m units, and now makes up around one of every three mobile phones shipped worldwide.
The launch of the iPhone 4S early in October meant that Apple pushed out Samsung, shipping 37m units to the estimated 36m from the south Korean company, according to the research company IDC.
The preliminary figures did not show market shares for the different operating systems, but trends in the market have suggested that Google's Android, used by the majority of Samsung and HTC smartphones, has been heading for a 50% or greater share of shipments.
"The launch of Apple's iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team.... Source/Origin >> Read More
