The worldwide mobile phone market grew 1.9% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), as strong holiday smartphone sales raised shipments of these devices to levels nearly equal to those of feature phones. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 482.5 million mobile phones in 4Q12 compared to 473.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. For the full year, the global market for mobile phones was essentially flat, declining 0.2% on shipments of more than 1.7 billion units.
Top Five Total Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q4 2012 (Units in Millions)
Note: Data are preliminary and subject to change. Samsung does not release unit sales figures and are therefore estimates. Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share Calendar Year 2012 (Units in Millions)
Note: Data are preliminary and subject to change. Samsung does not release unit sales figures and are therefore estimates. Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
In the worldwide smartphone market, vendors shipped 219.4 million units in 4Q12, which represents 45.5% of all mobile phone shipments, the highest percentage ever. The 36.4% year-over-year growth was slightly below IDC’s forecast of 39.5% for the quarter. On an annual basis, 545.2 million smartphones were shipped globally in 2012, which was 10.1% more than in 2011.
“The high-growth smartphone market, though dominated by Samsung and Apple, still presents ample opportunities for challengers,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, in a statement. “Vendors with unique market advantages, such as lower-cost devices, can rapidly gain market share, especially in emerging markets. A good example is Huawei, which overtook LG as a Top 5 vendor in the overall mobile phone market and passed HTC to become a Top 5 smartphone vendor.”
“The fact that Huawei and ZTE now find themselves among the Top 5 smartphone vendors marks a significant shift for the global market,” noted Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team. “Both companies have grown volumes by focusing on the mass market, but in recent quarters they have turned their attention toward higher-end devices. In addition, both companies have pushed the envelope in terms of industrial design with larger displays and smaller form factors, as well as innovative applications and experiences.”
Smartphone Vendor Highlights
Apple‘s record iPhone shipments in the quarter were driven by successes in Greater China, where shipments more than doubled, as well as the U.S., where 6.2 million iPhones were activated on Verizon alone. Interestingly, the company’s success was due in large part to older models, in particular the iPhone 4, which Apple couldn’t make enough of in the quarter relative to demand. Its sales success with the older model could portend success in higher-growth emerging markets where the company has performed well.
Huawei suddenly finds itself among the top three smartphone vendors in the world, a first for the company. The company had previously been a Top 10 vendor. To reach this milestone, Huawei has courted both the mass market with its simple and inexpensive smartphones and the high-end of the market with its Ascend-branded product line. Along the way, the company has demonstrated its innovative skills, having released the world’s thinnest (6.68 mm) smartphone last year, the Ascend P1, and this year it announced the upcoming Ascend Mate, the first smartphone with a 6.1-inch display. At the same time, Huawei has brought its own software innovations, including Magic Touch, Guiding Wizard, Smart Reading, and Floating Windows.
Samsung set a new record for the number of smartphones shipped in a single quarter and in a single year. Its broad and deep line-up of Android smartphones, particularly the Galaxy-branded Android family, combined with sustained demand for its mid-range and entry-level models to account for the remarkable shipment volumes. 2013 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the company as its Tizen smartphone strategy takes shape. Samsung will continue to rely on Android as its primary operating system, however, as the move to Tizen will not likely take place overnight.
Sony‘s strategy for becoming the worldwide leader in mobile entertainment combined with its growing portfolio of high-end smartphones drove its smartphone volumes higher throughout the year. This marks a significant improvement since Sony acquired Ericsson’s stake in 2011 in the Sony Ericsson joint venture. Sony introduced its Xperia TL last quarter and recently announced the addition of the Xperia Z and the Xperia ZL, to be launched in 1Q13.
ZTE maintained its spot among the Top 5 smartphone vendors globally thanks to continued international diversification efforts last quarter. The vendor also shipped more smartphones than feature phones for the first time. ZTE has grown its smartphone sales of late thanks primarily to an uptick in lower-cost smartphone sales in many emerging markets. The company has traditionally relied on sales of phones to China, where the company is based. Notable progress has been made in developed markets too.
Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q4 2012 (Units in Millions)
Note: Data are preliminary and subject to change. Samsung does not release unit sales figures and are therefore estimates. Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share Calendar Year 2012 (Units in Millions)
Note: Data are preliminary and subject to change. Samsung does not release unit sales figures and are therefore estimates. Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, January 24, 2013
Apple surely needs to smartphone released twice per year, not once. Apple expects for its Q2 (calendar Q1) $$41-43 billion revenue, which is only 5-10% growth YoY. Even if actual revenue will go higher than Apple’s top range, say, to $45 billion, even then the YoY growth will be only 15%.
Last year for that period Apple sold 35 million iPhones, which corresponded to $39.2 billion revenue. Of course, this estimation is only approximate, but 5-10-15% grown for this year’s quarter would only give 37-40 million iPhones.
This figure is great as itself, but not enough for Apple shares to grow and to fight better with Samsung. (This is why I think two-hand-use 2272×1280 5″ iPhone like this is going to be great for Apple, bringing tens of millions of *additional* unit sales per year).
My recollection is of Steve Jobs making the incredulous assertion at the introduction of the iPhone that they may take 10% of the global phone market. Funny the reaction then vs the dismay now that they aren’t an even more dominate force. They continue to grow share and in developed markets now see a trend towards switchers.
I know there are a gaggle of geeks that not only crave but utilize they flexibility that comes with android however for most user it just leads to confusion. Look at the app adoption, browsing, online purchasing, and advertising figures and it is clear which platforms users get more value from their $. Why pay smartphone rates when you will hardly use the smart part of ones phone. It is little wonder the telco’s love Android. Pay the fare and don’t use the network is a raw deal for users.
I recall that Steve said that if the iPhone was to take 1% of the cell phone market, it would be a success because the market was (some huge number) of billions of dollars and that would mean a business for Apple of X billion.
Yes, but he did say about 10%, too.
Now, five years later, Apple achieved 10% mobile phone market share — obviously, in numbers.
It is interesting that Apple grew their worldwide market share by 50% last year but gets hit on the earning release.
The data indicates that Apple are growing faster in that segment than Samsung which means 2 things:
1. As worldwide adoption of smartphones increase the majority will opt for low cost units. Samsung benefits from that. Apple captures the high end (and high profit) segment.
2. As the market in each country matures and Apple offer cheaper previous generation models, consumers switch from the cheaper units and move to the iPhone.
We are seeing the second phase is in the US and Europe now where Apple are increasing their market share.
Samsung is doing well at the moment in emerging markets due to their cheap price. However like the PC business Apple are taking market share from the top down. Combined that to the component switch, Samsung will be stuck with the low end market and little component revenue from Apple.
@doggonetoo: Don’t be tempted to focus in on one segment, one region, or one small snapshot in time. Apple is locked with Samsung in a marathon, and they’re not even past the 2nd mile marker in a global race. Sadly, I see no concrete assurance from Cook that Apple has “one more thing” up its sleeve to stay ahead in the race.
Historically, the winners are seldom the inventors, but rather the copycats who flood the market with cheaper inferior knockoffs in nice shiny packaging. That is why Samsung right now is very far ahead of Apple in unit sales. By telling Wall Street that Apple does not care about market share, AAPL leadership have essentially stated that they have no chance of winning the long-term race, especially in price-sensitive emerging markets. It the Android store ever challenges the Apple Store in terms of profitability, then sheer handset volume will blow by Apple, just as MSFT nearly killed off the Mac.
Apple needs to look at the world and not focus all of its product development efforts at the USA, where wireless service providers are a small oligopoly that have erected huge barriers to switching. Jobs introduced completely new products that changed entire industries. Cook has changed the screen size and @#$%^& up many software releases. It’s not hard to see that Apple needs to swallow its hubris and get to work.
I have noticed that several other recent articles listed Apple’s 2012 gobal smartphone sales were 19% rather than the 25% listed in this article. An example is at http://www.nasdaq.com/article/iphone-shipments-soared-46-in-2012-cm211079.