Global smartphone shipments in Q2 grew 43 percent to 60 million units from 42 million a year ago, accounting for 19 percent of handset volumes, according to a study by Strategy Analytics. Healthy operator subsidies, vigorous competition between premium-tier vendors and a growing range of lower-cost models, using operating software like Symbian and Android, continued to drive the upswing. RIM shipped 11.2 million smartphones worldwide in Q2, up from 8 million in the previous year. RIM is the number one smartphone player in North and South America, but its global market share of 19 percent is still behind Nokia's leading 40 percent share. Apple shipped 8.4 million iPhones worldwide in Q2, compared to 5.2 million a year ago and the company has a global market share of 14.4 percent. Apple's iPhone shipments, revenues and profitability continued to outperform, but public criticism of the company is mounting. Apple was criticised for its intensive production methods in China, while the iPhone has been heavily criticised for its poorly designed touchable antenna.
