Times, they are changing. And with more smartphones being shipped in Q1 than feature phones, an industry first has been hit. The worldwide mobile phone market grew 4% over Q1 2012 in what is traditionally the slow part of the year - shipping a total of 418.6 million mobile phones in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 402.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) has put together the data, which shows in the worldwide smartphone market vendors have shipped 216.2 million units in the first quarter, making it the first time over 50% of mobile shipments were smartphones. Smartphone shipments were still lower than Q4 of 2012, however, down 5.1%.
Samsung maintained its position that it held at the end of 2012 - as the leader in the worldwide smartphone market it shipped more smartphones than Apple, LG, Nokia and ZTE combined. LG returned to the top 5 in shipments after two-quarter absences thanks largely to the success of their Nexus 4 and Optimus G devices. Nokia held its 2nd position in the market with 14.8% of the smartphone market share, 4.9% above its next rival, Apple.
Blackberry is still not in the top 5, being beaten out by ZTE who saw a 30% increase in revenue this quarter. Blackberry's market share is expected to rise next quarter, though after the global rollout of its Blackberry 10 smartphones.
Source: IDC
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