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Smartphones outsell feature phones for the first time, as Samsung trounces the competition

Andy Boxall
By

What-happened-to-big-ideas-in-smartphones-mainThe latest market research from IDC has revealed that for the first time ever, smartphones have outsold feature phones around the world. The total figure, which is astounding on its own, reveal 418.6 million smartphones found new homes over the first three months of 2013. Broken down, this shows 216.2 million of these were smartphones, which is 51.6 percent of the overall total. Compare this to the same period in 2012, when 402.4 million phones shipped, and it shows there has also been a small amount of growth, however it’s less than the manic final quarter of 2012, when 483.2 million phones left warehouses around the world.

It’s no surprise to find Samsung at the top of IDC’s smartphone tree, accounting for an incredible 70.7 million phones shipped over the first period of the year. This gives the company a market share of 32.7 percent, way out in front of its rivals. Apple comes next, with 37.4 million shipments and 17.3 percent market share. Positions three, four and five are all bunched up, and with the right release from one of them, could all swap around by the time the second quarter is through. LG is currently third with 4.8 percent market share, then comes Huawei with 4.6 percent, and in fifth position it’s ZTE with 4.2 percent. There’s no sign of HTC, Sony, BlackBerry or Nokia, all of which have been bundled into the Others category, presumably with less than 3 percent market share each.

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During its recent earnings call, Apple’s Tim Cook boasted the firm’s revenue was equal to five Fortune 500 companies combined, and Samsung has a similar claim to fame – as it has shipped more phones than the other four companies on IDC’s top five list put together. Next quarter will reveal the impact of the Galaxy S4, and it’s inevitably massive sales figures should see Samsung’s position at the very top of the charts go unchallenged for some time yet.

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Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
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