Apple Falls to #5 Among Top Handset Vendors

The latest research from Strategy Analytics says that Apple has fallen to the fifth spot in the list of top handset vendors, as global handset shipments grew 14 percent annually to reach 390 million units in the third quarter of 2011.

Causing Apple to fall to the #5 spot among the world’s leading handset vendors was China’s ZTE, which surpassed the Cupertino giant with 18.5 million handsets shipped in Q3 2011.

Apple was just shy of that figure with 17.1 million iPhones sold. The iPhone maker commands just 4.4% of the handset market in Q3 ‘11.

Samsung’s marketshare also reached record-high levels, according to both Strategy Analytics and ABI Research.

“Global Handset Shipments Reach 390 Million Units in Q3 2011”, the report published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, can be obtained here.