China Ships More Smartphones Than the U.S. in the Third Quarter

According to a report from Strategy Analytics in terms of the shipment of units in the third quarter, China has surpassed the United States and become the largest smartphone market in the world. Strategy Analytics reported on Wednesday, November 23 that almost 24 million smartphones were shipped to China during the third quarter. During the same time period, the United States came in a close second with just over 23 million units.

"Smartphone shipments grew 58 percent sequentially to reach a record 23.9 million units in China during Q3 2011," Strategy Analytics Analyst Linda Sui said in a statement. "In contrast, smartphone shipments fell 7 percent sequentially to reach 23.3 million units in the United States. China has overtaken the United States for the first time to become the world's largest smartphone market by volume."

Nokia became the market leader in China during the third quarter, shipping more than 6.8 million smartphones to the country or 28.5 percent of all units that were shipped. Samsung came in second with a 17.6 percent market share and shipping more than 4.2 million smartphones. According to Strategy Analytics, all other vendors made up the other 12.9 million devices unaccounted for which is 54 percent of the smartphone market in China.

"China is now at the forefront of the worldwide mobile computing boom," said Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston. "China has become a large and growing smartphone market that no hardware vendor, component maker or content developer can afford to ignore."

"In the coming one or two quarters, it's going to be a seesaw game," Strategy Analytics director Thomas Kang said. "But going into next year, China will outstrip the U.S. market continuously. China is going to be larger every quarter."

In the United States it was HTC that came out on top, shipping the most smartphones in the third quarter. The company shipped more than 5.6 million units throughout the United States, 24 percent of the smartphone market. Apple came in second shipping more than 4.8 million iPhones, 20.6 percent of the market. All other smartphone manufacturers shipped a combined 12.9 million units, taking 55.4 percent of the smartphone market.

"China's rapid growth has been driven by an increasing availability of smartphones in retail channels, aggressive subsidizing by operators of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands such as ZTE," said Kang.

Although China did take the spot as largest smartphone market in the world in terms of units shipped, Strategy Analytics did note that the United States remained the largest smartphone market in the world in terms of revenue.

Source: PCMag - China Passes U.S. as Top Smartphone Market by Volume and PCWorld - China Overtakes U.S. in Smartphone Shipments, Says Research Firm

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Apple Brings in Great Second Quarter Numbers

According to the International Data Corporation, Apple has more than doubled the number of smartphones it has sold compared to the same quarter last year.

Strategy Analytics said that in the second quarter, Apple shipped 20.3 million iPhones, which is up 8.4 million phones from last year’s second quarter. They continued saying that this means that Apple has 18.5 percent of the global smartphone market, which is up from 13.5 percent last year.

"We had previously reported on Apple becoming the largest smartphone vendor in terms of revenue and profits. Now, just four years after the release of the original iPhone, Apple has become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with an 18 percent market share," according to Strategy Analytics.

Samsung wasn’t far behind Apple. In the second quarter, they shipped 19.2 million smartphones grabbing 17.5 percent of the smartphone market. That was also quite a big bump from their numbers the previous year. Last year, Samsung only shipped 3.1 million smartphones and had a 5 percent share of the market. The success of Samsung and Apple caused Nokia’s numbers to drop however. Last year, they had snatched 38.1 percent of the global smartphone market, but this year their numbers dropped to 15.2 percent.

When it comes to the overall shipment of smartphones and feature phones, Nokia is still the number one phone provider. During the second quarter, Nokia shipped 88.5 million phones globally, down 20 percent. Samsung was number two, shipping 74 million units, a 16 percent boost. LG came in a close third right in front of Apple. They shipped 24.8 million devices, but were down 19 percent. Apple was so close to coming in third place. Strategy Analytics said that this is "the closest Apple has ever been.”

The IDC confirmed the numbers that Strategy Analytics released naming Nokia, Samsung and LG as the very top mobile phone providers. The firm also did say that Apple’s “record” quarter helped to close in on the gap and bring the company much closer to the top.

Apple "easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old," IDC said. "The triple-digit shipment volume growth allowed Apple to more than double its share when compared to the same quarter last year."

IDC agreed with Strategy Analytics and reported sales of 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter. It gave Apple a 5.6 percent market share in the global handset market, as well as a 141.8 percent boost from the same time period last year.

"Apple’s ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future," IDC said.

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