The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8 percent year over year in the first quarter, fueled by high smartphone growth, emerging markets and gains made by market challengers, according to a study by IDC. Vendors shipped 371.8 million units compared to 310.5 million units in the first quarter of 2010. IDC does not expect feature phones to disappear as there is strong demand across the globe, but it was smartphone growth worldwide, particularly in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America, that lifted the overall market to a new first-quarter high. Smartphone-specific vendors, such as HTC, continue to grow sales at a steady clip as a result of this trend. Several vendors, including feature phone makers, outpaced the overall market, which contributed to share losses of some top suppliers. The growth of companies outside the top five vendors – vendors in the 'Others' category, such as Micromax, TCL-Alcatel, Huawei, and Research In Motion – shows that the overall market is ripe for share gains. IDC expects the worldwide mobile phone market's growth to be driven by smartphones throughout its forecast period to 2015. This means feature phone makers will either need to become smartphone dependent or consolidate that part of the market.
The Asia/Pacific market grew due to strong mobile phone shipments to Greater China despite the seasonally slow quarter. Smartphone shipment growth was exceptional despite some product launch delays. In Japan, the market underperformed due to the impact of the earthquake and tsunami. Japan's mobile operators ordered fewer phones than expected in March. In Western Europe, Android-based phones and iPhones enabled grow the market in the seasonally slow quarter. Devices from HTC, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson sold well in most countries in the high-end tiers. Alcatel, Huawei, and ZTE Android devices enabled drive mid-tier segment sales volume. Feature phone shipments receded as smartphones hit the market. The CEMA markets performed well on a year-over-year basis despite civil unrest in some Gulf countries, such as Egypt, where sales were negatively impacted by the turbulence. Nokia and Research In Motion performed well in the regions overall. In the United States last quarter, Apple's iPhone and the LTE-enabled HTC Thunderbolt were two smartphones introduced at Verizon Wireless that enabled to keep the category at front of the overall mobile phone market. In Canada, the market grew, while BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android devices were best sellers. The Latin America market growth continued last quarter as the gap between smartphones and feature phones narrowed. Smartphone shipments were aided by carriers, who are moving customers to 3G networks while vendors shipped touchscreen and Qwerty models. New Android and Windows Phone devices were launched too, which enabled drive smartphone growth.
The average selling prices also declined in the region due to aggressive expansion by Chinese vendors. Nokia’s Symbian-powered smartphones continued to find a warm reception, and the company introduced the E6 and X7, both running on the Symbian Anna software. In mobile phones, Nokia ramped up shipments of its C3 and X201 from last year and announced a dual-SIM phone with the C2. Samsung having posted a record Q1 shipment volume, closed the gap against Nokia and extended its lead ahead of third place vendor LG Electronics. Although feature phones comprised the majority of its shipments, smartphones represented a greater share from a year ago, nearly a fifth of its total volumes. Samsung shipped about 50 million smartphones and new models, including the Galaxy S II, 4G smartphones, and more mass-market smartphones are expected to reach the market later on. LG unit shipments declined on a year-over-year basis for the third straight quarter. The phone shipment drop off was noticeable in Europe and the CIS countries where shipments on a combined basis declined. The company hopes to deliver a better second quarter performance with the introduction of products such as the Revolution, which will run on the LTE network of Verizon Wireless, and the Big. Apple maintained its number four spot. Apple's results were buoyed by strong sales on Verizon Wireless and additional carrier deals, the company is now on 186 carriers operating in 90 countries. The iPhone once again sold particularly well in developed economic regions of the world, such as North America and Western Europe. ZTE ranked at number five spot and performed well in the regions such as China and Latin America. ZTE is making an effort to ship smartphones, which are based on the Android operating system, this year. The company has said it will create brand awareness and sell more devices in developed markets, such as the US this year.
