Nov 5, 2010 18:31 GMT  ·  By

The global smartphone market reached a number of 81.1 million units during the third quarter of the ongoing year, marking an increase of 89.5 percent when compared to the 42.8 million units that were shipped during 3Q 2009, a recent report from IDC shows.

According to the research firm, mobile phone makers posted double- or even triple-digit year-over-year growth in the time frame.

At the same time, the firm notes that the total number of smartphones that were shipped around the world during the first three quarters of the ongoing year was of 200.6 million units, up 67.6 percent from the 119.6 million units shipped during the same time frame a year ago.

“That the smartphone market has grown nearly ninety percent from last year and more than six times the overall mobile phone market indicates strong demand worldwide and vendors' collective ability to meet that demand,” says Ramon Llamas, IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

“Increasingly, users look to smartphones as their next devices while carriers have broadened selection and offered generous subsidies.

“To keep up with demand, vendors' plans to emphasize smartphones in their portfolios have resulted in sharp growth as evidenced by Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. We expect more vendors to do the same.”

Nokia remained the market leader, with solid year-over-year growth, and with new Symbian^3 devices brought to the market. However, Nokia's ASPs went down, while its market share shrunk.

The company should come up with a new smartphone strategy in the near future, with the first MeeGo-powered devices from it expected to land in 2011, and with Symbian phones moved to the mainstream level of the market.

Apple managed to sell enough iPhones to become the second leading smartphone maker in the world. However, the “third quarter is typically Apple's highest volume quarter,” IDC notes.

Research In Motion too reached a new record level of shipments in the time frame, though it fell to the third position on the global market.

However, it maintained its leadership on the North American market, while launching its first BlackBerry 6.0 OS-based handset, the BlackBerry Torch 9800.

Samsung managed to show the highest increase in smartphone shipments among all makers, based on the launch of its Galaxy S Android-powered smartphones, and on the popularity of its Wave devices, IDC notes.

The company will also deliver devices for the mass market, while shipping its first Windows Phone 7 handsets around the world. The company should ship 10 million smartphones in Q4.

HTC managed to post triple-digit year-over-year growth courtesy of its Android-based smartphones. However, the company also announced the release of Windows Phone 7 handsets, along with two new Android 2.2 devices, the Desire HD and Desire Z.

“The other important development during the quarter was how vendors are seeding the market for future growth,” adds Llamas.

“BlackBerry, iPhone, Microsoft, and Symbian all announced or launched refreshed operating systems, with each one providing an improved user experience over its predecessor.

“While these new operating systems initially appear on high-end devices at launch, they provide a glimpse of what the broader smartphone market will look like next year as the OS finds its way into more devices in the market.”

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

The smartphone market went up 89.5% YOY, says IDC
The smartphone market went up 89.5% YOY, says IDC
Open gallery