Apple and Samsung In Two-Horse Smartphone Race

Smartphone makers shipped 106.5 million units worldwide in the second quarter, with Apple's 20.3 million iPhone shipments leading the field for the first time, according to IDC. Unlike in previous quarters, however, there was no runaway leader in the global smartphone market, which has become increasingly volatile.

Even as smartphone sales continued to rise, former global market leader Nokia saw its shipments decline 30.4 percent year over year, with its smartphone sales expected to remain in free fall until the launch of new models based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

My reaction mirrored many others this week. Apple's big iPhone holiday quarter seemed simply unbelievable -- 37 million, up 128 percent year over year. But Samsung was close. Real close: 36.5 million smartphones, according to Strategy Analytics. Together, the two companies accounted for 47 percent of fourth-quarter smartphone shipments.

According to IDC, Apple solidified its number-four position in the worldwide mobile-phone market by shipping 20.3 million iPhones and posting the highest growth rate among the market leaders in the second quarter. The device maker's shipment numbers also edged closer to those of number-three LG Electronics, which delivered 24.8 million units in the second quarter -- down 18.9 percent from the year-earlier period.

With Apple poised to unleash a new iPhone 5 in September, it will soon have an opportunity to challenge LG Electronics for the number-three position.

Mobile phone shipments on a global basis reached 427.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 -- a tepid 6.1 percent rise from the year earlier period, IDC says.

The global handset market's single-digit growth in the seasonally strong fourth quarter shows that handset vendors are not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide, the firm's analysts said Thursday.

A surge in smartphone purchases led by Apple's iPhone 4S in the final three months of 2011 also caused feature phone shipments to decline faster than analysts had expected.

Android smartphone shipments from multiple vendors reached 32.9 million units worldwide in the fourth quarter -- topping the 31 million Symbian OS units shipped by former market leader Nokia, Canalys reported Monday. However, Nokia retained its lead as the world's number-one smartphone vendor with a 28 percent market share.

The global smartphone market overall grew 89 percent year over year to 101.2 unit shipments in the fourth quarter.

Google's Android operating system now leads the U.S. smartphone market with a 39 percent share, followed by Apple's iOS (28 percent), and Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS (20 percent), according to Nielsen. However, for device makers, the firm's latest survey data from June clearly demonstrates that Apple remains the premier U.S. smartphone vendor.

HTC was second behind Apple with a 14 percent share, with handsets using Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system accounting for six percent. Android-based devices from Motorola ranked third with an 11 percent market share.

Boston, MA – January 26, 2012 – According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global handset shipments grew 11 percent annually to reach 445 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple was the star performer, capturing a record 8 percent market share worldwide during the quarter.

Smartphone sales in the first quarter accounted for 23.6 percent of global handset shipments overall -- an increase of 85 percent year over year, according to Gartner. Android-based smartphones led the field with a 36 percent share of the 107.7 million units shipped globally in the quarter -- up from 9.6 percent at the same time last year.

In the mobile-handset market overall, first-quarter sales totaled 427.8 million -- a 19 percent rise from one year earlier.