Global Smartphone sales up 74% in second quarter
Over 107 million smartphones were sold in the second quarter of 2011, up 74% from 62 million in the same quarter a year earlier, according to a recent report by Gartner.
Smartphone sales accounted for 25% of the 429 million mobile device sold worldwide during the April to June time frame. That number was up substantially from the same quarter of 2010 when smartphones accounted for 17% of the 368 million mobile phone devices sold.
Feature phone sales grew about 6%, from just under 306 million units during the second quarter of 2010 to over 320 million in the April to June time frame in 2011.
Smartphone sales by Operating System
Google and Apple were the big winners in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android in the smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010. Gartner analysts observed that these two OSs have the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well.
Nokia and its Symbian operating system was the big loser sliding from a 41% market share last year to just 22% this. Research In Motion’s (RIM’s) share of the smartphone market also suffered a big decline falling to 12 percent in the second quarter of 2011, from 19 percent a year ago.
The following chart courtesy of Gartner summarizes Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in the second quarter of 2010 and 2011.
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