115% growth propels Apple to 5% share of global phone shipments
The latest estimates for total mobile phone shipments worldwide place Apple in fourth place with 5 percent of the market, thanks to a record quarter and huge year over year growth for the iPhone.
IDC's newly released Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker estimates that Apple's 18.7 million iPhones shipped made it firmly the fourth largest mobile phone vendor in the world in the first quarter of calendar 2011. Apple beat out ZTE, which came in fifth with a 4.1 percent market share on a shipment of 15.1 million devices.
Apple's 18.65 million iPhones sold last quarter were announced by the company earlier this month in its quarterly earnings report. It represented 114.9 percent year over year growth for the iPhone platform, easily outpacing the rest of the mobile phone market, which includes both smartphones and feature phones.
The total mobile phone market grew 19.8 percent year over year. And even market leader Nokia, which has seen its share of struggles as Apple's iPhone continues to grow, posted growth in shipments of 0.6 percent from 2010.
But Nokia's market share slid as the Finnish handset maker failed to keep pace with the rest of the market, slipping from 34.7 percent in 2010 to 29.2 percent in 2011. Second-place Samsung also saw its share slip from 20.7 percent a year ago to 18.8 percent in the first quarter of 2011, as its 8.9 percent growth in shipments also fell short of competitors.
In third was LG electronics, which saw its year over year shipments drop 9.6 percent to 24.5 million. LG held a 6.6 percent total share of the mobile phone market, good enough to keep it ahead of Apple's 5 percent for the time being.
"Several notable vendors, including feature phone makers, outpaced the overall market, which contributed to share losses of some top suppliers," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. "The growth of companies outside the top 5 vendors -- vendors in the 'Others' category, such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel, Huawei, and Research In Motion -- shows that the overall market is still very much ripe for share gains."
IDC said that the iPhone sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and Western Europe. The company's smartphone is now available on 186 carriers in 90 countries.
"At the same time, feature phones have represented the majority of mobile phone shipments, but still are under tremendous pressure from smartphones," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. "Even popular quick-messaging devices (phones with a QWERTY keyboard), once a bright spot within the feature phone market, appear to be losing steam as smartphones gain popularity. Still, IDC does not expect feature phones to disappear quickly as there is still strong demand across the globe."
IDC's newly released Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker estimates that Apple's 18.7 million iPhones shipped made it firmly the fourth largest mobile phone vendor in the world in the first quarter of calendar 2011. Apple beat out ZTE, which came in fifth with a 4.1 percent market share on a shipment of 15.1 million devices.
Apple's 18.65 million iPhones sold last quarter were announced by the company earlier this month in its quarterly earnings report. It represented 114.9 percent year over year growth for the iPhone platform, easily outpacing the rest of the mobile phone market, which includes both smartphones and feature phones.
The total mobile phone market grew 19.8 percent year over year. And even market leader Nokia, which has seen its share of struggles as Apple's iPhone continues to grow, posted growth in shipments of 0.6 percent from 2010.
But Nokia's market share slid as the Finnish handset maker failed to keep pace with the rest of the market, slipping from 34.7 percent in 2010 to 29.2 percent in 2011. Second-place Samsung also saw its share slip from 20.7 percent a year ago to 18.8 percent in the first quarter of 2011, as its 8.9 percent growth in shipments also fell short of competitors.
In third was LG electronics, which saw its year over year shipments drop 9.6 percent to 24.5 million. LG held a 6.6 percent total share of the mobile phone market, good enough to keep it ahead of Apple's 5 percent for the time being.
"Several notable vendors, including feature phone makers, outpaced the overall market, which contributed to share losses of some top suppliers," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. "The growth of companies outside the top 5 vendors -- vendors in the 'Others' category, such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel, Huawei, and Research In Motion -- shows that the overall market is still very much ripe for share gains."
IDC said that the iPhone sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and Western Europe. The company's smartphone is now available on 186 carriers in 90 countries.
"At the same time, feature phones have represented the majority of mobile phone shipments, but still are under tremendous pressure from smartphones," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. "Even popular quick-messaging devices (phones with a QWERTY keyboard), once a bright spot within the feature phone market, appear to be losing steam as smartphones gain popularity. Still, IDC does not expect feature phones to disappear quickly as there is still strong demand across the globe."
Comments
Who the heck are ZTE?
I had to look it up - it's a large Chinese telecommunications manufacturer.
Who the heck are ZTE?
A Chinese telecommunications equipment company. They don't have a lot of presence outside of PRC, however since there 1.3 billion people in China, they still serve a large domestic market.
Who the heck are ZTE?
? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ZTE
Thats off contract, and the iPhone costs about £600 off contract.
ZTE are Apple's biggest threat, as it happens. They produce a perfectly decent Android phone for about £100 over here in Blighty.
Thats off contract, and the iPhone costs about £600 off contract.
You have it totally wrong. They are not Apple's biggest threat. They are the biggest threat to other Android phone-makers such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
Those who want an iPhone want an iPhone. Period.
Best
You have it totally wrong. They are not Apple's biggest threat. They are the biggest threat to other Android phone-makers such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
Those who want an iPhone want an iPhone. Period.
Those who want a touch screen smartphone may go for the cheapest option. Period.
Those who want a touch screen smartphone may go for the cheapest option. Period.
Those whose criteria for a smartphone stops at ?has a touchscreen? are not iPhone customers. Period.
Those whose criteria for a smartphone stops at ?has a touchscreen? are not iPhone customers. Period.
For fuck sake, Apple's market is not just people who only buy Apple. The survey for iPad buyers show most of them didnt have iPhones. Obviously iPod owners are not, in the main, Mac owners. They are going for the iPad and iPod because of their relative cheapness.
The market for people who only buy something with an Apple logo is about 2-5% of any market - for the rest of humanity it depends on other criteria, price being a major one.
You have it totally wrong. They are not Apple's biggest threat. They are the biggest threat to other Android phone-makers such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
Those who want an iPhone want an iPhone. Period.
The cheap Android phones make a lot of compromises to keep the price down:
1. Resistive touch screen - Costs significantly less, but they are hard to use due to poor sensitivity
2. Lower quality LCD with narrow viewing angles, lower contrast, etc
3. Minimum Flash Memory - 0.5 GB to 4 GB. Have slot of USB Flash.
4. NiMH battery good for 1-2 hours. Replaceable, but the plastic lid needs to be duck taped after a while.
5. Hard to update the custom Android software.
Sure, there are markets for this stuff, but no profits. I do not see any lines in front of any place selling ZTE phones.
For fuck sake, Apple's market is not just people who only buy Apple. The survey for iPad buyers show most of them didnt have iPhones. Obviously iPod owners are not, in the main, Mac owners. They are going for the iPad and iPod because of their relative cheapness.
The market for people who only buy something with an Apple logo is about 2-5% of any market - for the rest of humanity it depends on other criteria, price being a major one.
The one who want the cheapest option would never buy Apple product. I know that well because I'm used to be one of them. Never buy any Apple product until last year.
Regardless of when it happens, all the Android shills, Apple-haters, and sundry trolls will rise up en masse and scream "we told you so".
For fuck sake, Apple's market is not just people who only buy Apple. The survey for iPad buyers show most of them didnt have iPhones. Obviously iPod owners are not, in the main, Mac owners. They are going for the iPad and iPod because of their relative cheapness.
The market for people who only buy something with an Apple logo is about 2-5% of any market - for the rest of humanity it depends on other criteria, price being a major one.
I have an intel iMac, two G5 iMacs, a MBP, and an iPad2, but no iPhone. This old retired guy just has no use for one.
Those who want a touch screen smartphone may go for the cheapest option. Period.
The word 'may' in there makes the summation "Period" seem a trifle silly don't you think. Hardly a declarative statement! They may go to Brighton Pier and have an ice cream instead.
For fuck sake, Apple's market is not just people who only buy Apple. The survey for iPad buyers show most of them didnt have iPhones. Obviously iPod owners are not, in the main, Mac owners. They are going for the iPad and iPod because of their relative cheapness.
The market for people who only buy something with an Apple logo is about 2-5% of any market - for the rest of humanity it depends on other criteria, price being a major one.
Apple's market are those willing and able to buy Apple's products. As you've clearly stated Apple doesnt make a sub-$100 smartphone, which is Apple's choice not some business mishap.
Apple makes over 50% of the world's handset profit while only having 5% of the world's handset sales by unit. This is impressive on several levels, including the fact 1 in 20 phones sold last quarter throughout the world are iPhones that debuted more than 6 months earlier.
Again, Aplple isn't selling me to products that qualify some bare minimum functionality so it check off a spec list. So no, just having a touchscreen isn't going hurt Apple or they never would have gotten the iPhone off the ground.
The one who want the cheapest option would never buy Apple product. I know that well because I'm used to be one of them. Never buy any Apple product until last year.
hmm, except for the ipad which kind of his both the cheapest and the best option ATM if you exclude the crappy android 2.2 tablets.
hmm, except for the ipad which kind of his both the cheapest and the best option ATM if you exclude the crappy android 2.2 tablets.
There have been plenty of really bad no name brands well under the iPad's prices but this past month we started seeing quality tablet HW components thy undercut the iPad for the same capacity. Most notably is Asus who have a good rep for good build quality, displays and battery life, which are using IPS panels across the board.
The issue for them and others is now Honeycomb but I've heard that it will be an iOS killer sooooon.
hmm, except for the ipad which kind of his both the cheapest and the best option ATM if you exclude the crappy android 2.2 tablets.
A rare case and it won't live for long. Iconia is cheaper now and others will keep coming.
For fuck sake, Apple's market is not just people who only buy Apple. The survey for iPad buyers show most of them didnt have iPhones. Obviously iPod owners are not, in the main, Mac owners. They are going for the iPad and iPod because of their relative cheapness.
The market for people who only buy something with an Apple logo is about 2-5% of any market - for the rest of humanity it depends on other criteria, price being a major one.
People having standard for smartphone higher than "having a touchscreen" don't mean they follow that with a "also have an apple logo". Usability, performance, style, quality, etc., are all very important criteria for people not seeking the lowest priced product. Apple's product just fit those requirements exceedingly well.