Apple Doubles Mobile-Phone Market Share: IDC

Apple Inc. more than doubled its share of the global handset market last quarter as the iPhone maker posted record shipments, while Nokia Oyj  lead in the industry shrank amid a sales slump, research company IDC said.

Apple increased its market share to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, from 2.6 percent a year earlier, IDC said in an e-mailed statement today. Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. (066570), the three biggest vendors, all lost market share, making Apple the only one of the top-four to post a gain, according to the Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher.


Nokia this month posted its first quarterly loss since 2009 as the Espoo, Finland-based company reported weaker-than- expected revenue. Apple, the world’s biggest technology company by market value, had record sales and profit last quarter helped by demand for the iPhone, its biggest revenue contributor.

Nokia’s market share shrank to 24.2 percent from 33.8 percent a year earlier, after shipments plunged 20 percent, according to IDC. The Finnish company is losing out to low-cost vendors including China’s TCL Corp. (000100) and Huawei Technologies Co., according to IDC.

Samsung, maker of the Galaxy smartphone, accounted for 19.2 percent of the global mobile-phone market last quarter, declining from 19.4 percent a year earlier, IDC said. LG’s market share fell to 6.8 percent from 9.3 percent, IDC said.

Global handset shipments rose 11.3 percent to 365.4 million in the quarter, according to IDC.
[source: bloomberg ]

Posted in: Apple,News