Total smart mobile device (notebook, tablet and smart phone) shipments for this year’s first quarter exceeded 308.7 million units, according to a report from Canalys. This represents year-on-year growth of 37.4 percent. The report also shows that, in terms of OS vendors, the Open Handset Alliance continues to dominate, with Android the OS of choice on 59.5 percent of all smart mobile devices shipped.
Of the other OS vendors, Apple holds a 19.3 percent share on the in the smartphone and tablet PC markets, while Microsoft’s 18.1 percent share reflects its relative strength in the PC market but continued challenger status in the smartphone space.
Of the three, the tablet market continues to grow the fastest. Worldwide, tablet shipments grew 106.1 percent year-on-year to 41.9 million units. Though Apple continues to lead in the tablet space with a 46.4 percent share, it lost share to its Android-based rivals for the third consecutive quarter.
The study found that smartphone shipments came in at around 216.3 million for the quarter, maintaining the strong growth (47.9% this quarter) that the market saw throughout 2012. Android handsets accounted for 75.6 percent of total smart phone shipments, and Samsung dominated once again, growing its volume by 64.3 percent year-on-year, which helped its market share exceed 32 percent. In contrast, Apple saw modest annual growth (6.7%) in its smart phone shipments – the lowest level since the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007.
Huawei, LG and ZTE completed the top five smart phone vendors, all with less than 5 percent market share each. Once again, Huawei and ZTE benefited from their strength in their home market, with 84 percent and 71 percent of their shipments respectively in mainland China.
Notebook PC shipments amounted to 50.5 million units, declining by 13.1 percent during the quarter compared with the same period in 2012. The biggest decline was in Western Europe, where shipments fell by 25.2 percent on an annual basis.
